Even if it is a coincidence, the timing is strange. LG Twins’ right-hander Choi Won-tae (26), who showed poor performance after the trade, was eventually notified of being transferred to the second team. It appears that he will take a moment to work on his body and mind in order to regain his stature.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) released the status of first-team entry changes on its official website on the 11th, when there were no KBO league games. LG expunged one player, Choi Won-tae, from the first team entry.

Above all, Choi Won-tae’s recent slump is painful for LG. Choi Won-tae left Kiwoom Heroes through a trade on July 29 and wore the LG Twins uniform. At the time, it was a 3:1 trade in which LG gave Kiwoom infielder Lee Joo-hyung (22), pitcher Kim Dong-gyu (19), and a 2024 first-round rookie pick in exchange for starting pitcher Choi Won-tae.

LG head coach Yeom Kyung-yeop, as well as LG fans, could not hide their joy at Choi Won-tae’s recruitment. That’s because the starting lineup was always mentioned as LG’s biggest weakness this season. At the beginning of the season, foreign ace Casey Kelly continued to perform poorly, and even Kim Yun-sik and Lee Min-ho, who had been highly anticipated, left early due to poor condition. In this situation, the recruitment of Choi Won-tae seemed sufficient as a native resource who would take full responsibility for one axis of the starting lineup. The LG team also said, “We made a trade to reinforce starting pitchers for this season’s final goal, while thinking about the present and the future at the same time.”

◆ Choi Won-tae, a ‘proven’ starting resource, before the trade, 6 wins, 4 losses, ERA 3.25 → After the trade, 2 wins, 2 losses, ERA 8.27 ‘Why?’In fact, if you look at Choi Won-tae’s career so far, it was a past performance that you couldn’t help but believe. After graduating from Seoul High School, Choi Won-tae joined Nexen Heroes (now Kiwoom Heroes) in the first round of selection in 2015. His joining contract fee is 350 million won. Choi Won-tae, who debuted on the first-team stage in 2016, his second year in the league, finished his first season with 2 wins, 3 losses, and an ERA of 7.23. In the 2017 season, Choi Won-tae grew into a starting pitcher with 11 wins, 7 losses, and an ERA of 4.46.

Since then, Choi Won-tae has consistently pitched more than 100 innings every season, firmly guarding the mound for the hero team. In the 2018 season, he performed well with 13 wins, 7 losses, and an ERA of 3.95, and in the 2019 season, he performed well with 11 wins, 5 losses, and an ERA of 3.38. Subsequently, he recorded 7 wins and 6 losses with an average ERA of 5.07 in the 2020 season, 9 wins and 11 losses with an average ERA of 4.58 in the 2021 season, and 3.75 ERA with 7 wins and 5 losses in the 2022 season.

And he showed consistent performance this season as well. Before changing his uniform to LG, he started 17 games for Kiwoom this season, recording 6 wins, 4 losses, and an average ERA of 3.25. In 102⅓ innings, he allowed 90 hits (7 home runs), 29 walks, 78 strikeouts, 38 runs (37 earned), a hitting percentage of 0.237, and a WHIP (on-base percentage allowed per inning) of 1.16. There were 11 quality starts (less than 3 earned runs in 6 innings).

After Choi Won-tae moved to LG, he could hardly find himself. After moving to LG, I got off to a good start. First, on the 30th, the day after the trade announcement, Choi Won-tae thrilled LG fans by throwing a perfect pitch against Doosan, allowing 2 hits, 5 strikeouts, and no runs in 6 innings. Earlier, at the time of the trade announcement, Coach Yeom said, “I feel like my insides are full of relief.”

At the time, Coach Yeom said, “I’ve had a hard time sleeping at night because of the starting lineup recently, and it feels like the blocked blood has been cleared all at once.” He added, “It must not have been an easy decision as it was a trade that essentially involved sending three prospects. Even under these circumstances, the general manager made this trade happen. “I’m really grateful to the president, the team owner, and the club owner for giving me permission,” he said. He continued, “With Choi Won-tae’s arrival, the range of ways to utilize other players has greatly expanded. Also, the number of cards that can be used to bet on a game has increased. Kelly and Adam Plutko, as well as Lim Chan-gyu, Choi Won-tae, and Lee Jeong-yong, will enter the starting rotation. Also, Lee Ji-gang and Lee Min-ho. , Lee Sang-young, and Kang Hyo-jong, the best pitcher will play on Monday or in the double header game,” he said, expressing his expectations.

But that was it. On August 5th, he suffered a defeat against Samsung with 9 hits (1 home run), 1 hit by a ball to the body, 4 strikeouts, and 6 runs (6 earned) in 5 innings. Then, on the 12th, he won against his home team, Kiwoom, with 6 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, and 2 runs (2 earned) in 5 innings, and then against SSG on the 18th, 7 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 1 hit to the body, 4 strikeouts, 4. It seemed like there was a rebound with the runs allowed (4 earned runs).

However, in an away game against NC on the 25th, he was battered with 15 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, and 11 runs (9 earned) in 4 innings, suffering his second loss since moving. This was Choi Won-tae’s record for the most runs allowed in an individual game (the previous record was against LG on August 29, 2021, when he played for Kiwoom, 1⅔ innings, 8 hits, 5 walks, 11 runs, 11 earned). This wasn’t the end. In the game against Suwon KT on the 5th, he was shaken with 5 hits (1 home run), 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, and 2 runs (2 earned runs) in 3 innings, and in the match against Gwangju KIA on the 10th, he pitched 2⅔ innings, 8 hits, 5 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 7 runs (7 earned runs). went through His August performance was 4 games, 1 win, 2 losses, and an average ERA of 9.00. September’s performance is 2 games with no wins or losses and an average ERA of 14.29. During the 7 games since transferring to LG, his record was 2 wins, 2 losses, and his average ERA was 8.27.

Regarding Choi Won-tae, Coach Yeom said in an interview with reporters ahead of the Suwon KT game on the 6th, “If he does not perform well in his next appearance (against KIA on the 10th), I will think about removing him from the entry list, but in the end, he made a decision. It ended. Now, not only the LG club, but also the coaching staff, colleagues, and LG fans are eagerly hoping for Choi Won-tae’s revival. As he spends time in the second team, recovering his stamina and regaining his balance is expected to be an urgent priority.

Lee Min-ho is expected to join LG’s starting lineup in place of Choi Won-tae. Currently, LG is in a situation where Adam Plutko is out of the line due to a left pelvic contusion. Accordingly, Kim Yun-sik came up and showed good performance, allowing one run in two consecutive games. LG had been thoroughly preparing since spring camp, and Kim Yun-sik was also a prepared resource. And like Kim Yun-sik, Lee Min-ho also prepared in the second team and waited for the call of the first team. Lee Min-ho appeared in 6 games in the Futures League, recording 3 wins, no losses, and an average ERA of 1.13. In 24 innings, 14 hits, 6 walks (1 ball hit to the body), 20 strikeouts, 4 runs (3 earned runs), hitting percentage 0.167. In addition, Lee Sang-young, who has 9 wins, 1 loss, 1 save, and an ERA of 2.24 in the Futures League, is also one of the starting candidates.카지노

Meanwhile, on this day, SSG Landers deleted fielders Jeon Eui-san and Kim Chan-hyung, and pitcher Lee Ki-sun from the first team entry. Kiwoom Heroes excluded outfielder Lee Hyeong-jong and pitcher Byun Si-won from the first team entry. In 99 games this season, Lee Hyung-jong recorded a batting average of 0.215 (68 hits in 316 at-bats), 3 home runs, 37 RBIs, 35 runs, 39 walks, 78 strikeouts, a slugging percentage of 0.320, an on-base percentage of 0.326, and an OPS of 0.646. KIA Tigers demoted Kim Geon-guk, who pitched 4⅓ innings and allowed 5 runs in the game against LG on the 10th, to the second team. NC Dinos sent outfielder Chun Jae-hwan and Samsung Lions sent pitcher Kim Si-hyun to the second team.