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‘Korea-Japan Match’ Continuing the genealogy of the left-hander in the national team, the pitcher who surprised major leaguers [Jin-hyung Yoo’s 1mm on-site]

adminMarch 4, 2023

Tommy Edman laughed awkwardly after striking out standing by Chang-mo Koo (26)’s falling splitter in his first live betting.안전놀이터

World Baseball Classic (WBC) keystone combination Tommy Edman (28, St. Louis Cardinals) and Kim Ha-seong (28, San Diego Padres) can play only two practice games officially organized according to WBC secretariat regulations. So, I couldn’t participate in the match against SSG Landers’ 2nd team scheduled for the 3rd.

Coach Lee Kang-cheol and the coaching staff decided to improve the condition of the two players with live betting in order to maintain the sense of the game. The pitchers to face Ha-seong Kim and Edmund in the national team were decided to be NC Gu Chang-mo and Samsung Won Tae-in. Left pitcher and right pitcher each gave 2 innings.

Koo Chang-mo got on the mound first. After lightly warming up, he had his first confrontation with Edmund. In order to see as many balls as possible, Edmund fought persistently by cutting the balls of Gu Chang-mo. However, he finished his first at-bat with a standing strikeout from Gu Chang-mo’s splitter. Edmund, who got out of the bat, was surprised by Koo Chang-mo’s pitch and talked a lot with Kim Ha-sung. Then he approached Chang-mo Koo who came down the mound and praised his pitching.

Edman raised his thumb, saying, “Koo Chang-mo’s ball was fast, and his fastball stayed on the high course of the strike zone and came in well. The pitch was good.” And he was surprised, saying, “I think I’m good at throwing various pitches and stealing the batter’s balance.”

In fact, Gu Chang-mo’s ball is already well-known as the best in the league. But he always had health problems. Since 2019, Koo Chang-mo has been evaluated as a lumber to succeed Kim Gwang-hyun (SSG) and Yang Hyeon-jong (KIA), who played the role of the national left-hander ace with full potential. However, he suffered a back stress fracture in 2019, a stress fracture in the forearm of his left arm in 2020, and even underwent surgery to fix the ulnar plate in his left arm in 2021, and was out of the season. So he was always followed by the word ‘glass body’.

But now it’s about to change. Last year, after a year-long hiatus, he returned and showed his presence by posting an average ERA of 2.10 with 11 wins and 5 losses in 19 games and 111⅔ innings. And he signed a non-FA multi-year contract for up to 7 years and 13.2 billion won with NC and was recognized as the best left-handed pitcher in the KBO.

A healthy Koo Chang-mo is the next-generation ace who will succeed the lineage of the national left-hander with a pitch that surprises even major leaguers. He said that he is in the same condition as he is now, and has a good chance of being selected in the fateful match against Korea and Japan. In previous Korea-Japan matches, the ‘Japanese killers’ were all left-handed pitchers such as Koo Dae-seong, Bong Joong-geun, and Kim Gwang-hyun. Now, it remains to be seen whether Koo Chang-mo can prove his qualification as the next-generation national left-handed pitcher.