Won Tae-in, 24, the “homegrown ace” of the Samsung Lions of the Korean Baseball Organization, showed his willingness to pitch Game 4 and Game 7 of the Korean Series after the first and second games were postponed due to rain in Gwangju. The schedule was pushed back by one day, giving him an extra day of rest, so he was able to pitch Game 4 on four days’ rest and Game 7 on three days’ rest.

“I think I can prepare for Game 4 in good shape after four days of rest,” Won said. If they ask me to start Game 7 on three days’ rest, I’ll do it. I have a lot of aches and pains, but it’s a chance to win a championship that you never know when it will come, and I don’t want to miss it, so not only me, but all the players are giving it their all,” he said.

There were some concerns about his physical condition, but he said, “I would give anything to win,” and added, “I’m not pushing myself as hard as I used to. You don’t have to worry about that. I’m taking good care of myself so that I can play baseball as long as I can and in as good shape as possible. Honestly, I don’t know when I’ll get hurt, but I’m preparing to play as long as I can without getting hurt.”

Unfortunately,

Won suffered the injury in Game 4 of the Korean Series in Daegu on April 26. Won gave up six runs on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings, but his pitches weren’t as sharp as they were in Game 1. He left the mound with the bases loaded in the top of the third inning after feeling discomfort in his right shoulder, and an MRI revealed the injury.

An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) revealed a labrum tear in his right shoulder joint. There was some bleeding and swelling in the joint, along with rotator cuff tendonitis, and he was diagnosed with four to six weeks of rehabilitation. 메이저사이트 He has been ruled out of the rest of the Korean Series, as well as the Premier12 in November. Won’s injury is a big blow for Samsung and the national team.

Unfortunately, it was an injury that was bound to happen. Won has been in the starting rotation since his debut season as a 19-year-old, throwing 112 innings. After 140 innings in 2020, he threw 158⅔ innings in 2021, 165⅓ innings in 2022, 150 innings in 2023, and 159⅔ innings this year, the last four years in a row. Since 2019, he has pitched a total of 885⅔ innings in 160 games over the last six years, second only to foreign pitcher Casey Kelly (989⅓ innings), who played for LG. He has shown consistency as the highest innings eater among Korean pitchers.

Unlike in the past,

He pitcher protection and management has become the new normal for young pitchers in their early 20s, with pitch counts of 100 pitches or less, a minimum of five days of rest, and a season-long innings limit. In the era of “pitcher overprotection,” Won Tae-in was no wonder he was called Chul-wan. His 70 games with more than 100 pitches, including a personal best of 123 pitches against Suwon KT on October 21, 2020, were the most in the league in the last six years, and his 22 starts on four days’ rest were second only to Kia’s Yang Hyun-jong (29) among Korean pitchers.

He also pitched for the national team. In addition to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, last year he pitched in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March, the Hangzhou Asian Games in October, and the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) in November. He became the first pitcher to pitch in three international tournaments in one year, before, during, and after the season. Including his six international games (19⅓ innings), he pitched 169⅓ innings last year. It’s not just the record, but the fatigue that must have accumulated in his body as he prepared for the season earlier than others and finished it later. “I feel like I’m playing baseball all year round,” Won said during the APBC. The season is really long and exhausting. I think I need to focus on resting and preparing for next year’s season.”

I thought this year would be a sabbatical year for him, but it wasn’t.

In 28 games and 159⅔ innings pitched, he went 15-6 with a 3.66 ERA. With Samsung outperforming expectations in second place, Won couldn’t afford to rest. He pitched an additional 14 innings in three more postseason games in the playoffs and the Korean Series, totaling 173⅔ innings for the year. That’s not even on the grueling end of the spectrum by historical standards, but the cumulative pitches that Wontae-in would have accumulated over the course of the year were overwhelming.

It’s unfortunate that his career ended with an injury on the big stage of the Korean Series, but in the context of his entire baseball career, it’s not a bad thing. A pitcher’s arm and shoulder are expendable, and the injury was bound to happen at some point. By not playing in the Premier12, Wontae was able to use the off-season to focus on rest and recovery, giving him time to manage it.