Hanwha Young-gun Mun Dong-ju (20) recorded the highest speed among domestic pitchers and rewrote the history of the KBO League. But he couldn’t laugh.
Moon Dong-ju started pitching in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League KIA Tigers match held at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on the 12th and pitched a quality start with 6 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts and 2 runs, but became a losing pitcher.
On the 6th, the first appearance of the season, Moon Dong-ju won his first win after pitching 5 scoreless innings against Samsung in Daegu. He tried to carry on the momentum, but unfortunately the flow was cut off.
The start was good. Ryu Ji-hyeok, Park Chan-ho, and Socrates all struck out in the first inning. In particular, Park Chan-ho and Socrates struck out on three pitches.
The highlight was when he faced Park Chan-ho. After getting two strikes, he struck out with a four-seam fastball on the third pitch. The speed of this ball was recorded as 160.1 km by Sports 2I, the official record company of the KBO League.
This is new history. It was the highest speed ever recorded by a Korean pitcher. Previously, Choi Dae-seong (former Lotte) recorded 158.7km against Jang Seong-ho in the Hanwha match on September 7, 2012. Then, on September 30, 2022, Ahn Woo-jin recorded 158.4 km against Kim Seong-hyun in the SSG match.
In other words, Moon Dong-ju has surpassed An Woo-jin, the best fireball player in existence.
Redames Liz (Dominican Republic), a foreign pitcher who played an active part in the LG Twins, was the only one who had exceeded 160 km before. On September 24, 2012, against SK Wyverns (SSG Landers) Cho Dong-hwa, Leeds threw a fast ball over 160 km over 10 times, including the highest velocity of 162.1 km.
However, he could not overcome the 2nd inning. Facing a crisis with a walk and a hit, Moon Dong-ju allowed Lee Woo-seong to double at the right time in the 2nd, 1st and 3rd bases, allowing 2 runs.
Moon Dong-ju sent out two runners in the third inning, but did not concede. After that, he regained his stability. In the 4th and 5th innings, Moon Dong-ju, who made a tripartite inning, made a defensive mistake in the 6th, but showed his crisis management ability and blocked it.
Even with 6 innings and 2 runs, he failed to become a winning pitcher. He didn’t get any help from the batting line. The Hanwha batting line was tied to KIA starter Sean Anderson.
In the end, Moon Dong-ju became a losing pitcher as he came down from the mound in the 7th inning, where he was trailing 0-2. 안전놀이터
Since it was Moon Dong-joo’s pitching day, Hanwha could expect the first winning streak of the season, but the result was not.
After the game, Moon Dong-ju said, “First of all, it’s a pity that the team lost. I think the speed recorded today is a record that shows that I built my body well during the off-season and during the camp, and that I am in good condition.”
He said, “I wasn’t particularly conscious of 160km/h during the game. Still, 160km/h is a record that no one can record, so I will make good use of the speed I can show in the mound in the future and pitch steadily with confidence.”