Kiwoom Heroes’ No Un-hyun (21) will leave the team three years after joining the team.
Kiwoom announced on the 7th, “We have organized the team to reorganize the team. We have requested the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) to cancel the registration of pitcher Noh Un-hyun as a nurturing player.”
Noh, who joined Kiwoom in the second round (ranked 32nd) of the 2022 Rookie Draft, drew attention from fans with his unique pitching form. He started pitching in an extreme underhand pitching form and pitched in a pitching form close to a sidearm, making it difficult for batters to set the right timing. Unlike other high-profile rookies in his first year as a member of the team, he started the season at Futures Camp, but made impressions in practice games and posted one win and an earned run average of 1.13 in five exhibition games (eight innings). Notably, his strikeout ability, which allowed eight strikeouts during eight innings, was outstanding. In response, Noh joined the opening entry for the 2022 season and started the season with the first team.
However, he immediately ran into a high first-team wall. With fastballs not fast enough at 120 kilometers per hour and some balls not exceeding 110 kilometers per hour, Noh has revealed his limitations in overcoming top-tier batters by banking on his strength. During his debut season, he only recorded one loss and an earned run average of 11.25 in five games (four innings). Despite this, he displayed potential in 29 games (55 ⅓ innings) with three wins, four losses and six holds with an earned run average of 3.25. While playing for the national team at the U-23 World Baseball Championship, he also played in two games (seven ⅓ innings) with an earned run average of 1.91 in average.
After finishing her debut season, Noh said in an interview with the 2022 closing camp, “I didn’t expect such a good result in a trial game. I threw confidently because I was young. Then, when I entered the season, I thought, ‘I have to catch it no matter what’ and ‘I have to not get hit’, and I went in and got hit more. I am so grateful and honored to get a chance in the first team. But I am so sad and upset with myself because I don’t think I took that opportunity. I want to spend a healthy season. Then, I think good results will follow,” vowing to show better performances. 안전놀이터
Nonetheless, Noh has not been able to show as much growth as expected since then. He has not played in any of the top-tier games since 2022, and has recorded only six wins, 10 losses and seven holds with an ERA of 5.85 in 73 games (149 ⅓ innings) during the three years in the Futures League. This year, his Futures League performance was only one win, three losses and one hold with an ERA of 7.33 in 24 games (42 ⅓ innings). Although he was in the second-tier league, he did not show any significant performance, and he ended up leaving the team without seeing any light.
Kiwoom ranked ninth in ERA (5.16) and 10th in ERA (6.02) in the bullpen this season. Throughout the season, the team struggled to find bullpen pitchers who could withstand the latter half of the game, but failed to produce satisfactory results. Despite the team’s situation, Noh was not given a chance in the first division and was ruled out of the team’s lineup.
Noh left a strong impression with his unique pitching form that baseball fans have never seen before. However, he proved that he cannot survive in the first team with his unique pitching form, which has been forgotten by fans. Attention is focusing on whether Noh will have an opportunity to show his pitching form to fans once again, which is hard to forget.
