It was an ambitious start to the season, but the end was disappointing again. Koo Chang-mo (26, NC Dinos), whose clock has been temporarily stopped, has come to promise a year and a half later.
Koo joined the training center on June 18. After completing his training, he will serve in the military as a member of the South Korean military sports unit (Sangmu).
Although it was scheduled to join the military, Koo Chang-mo has no choice but to regret that he couldn’t.
Koo has been prominent in the first team since 2019, his fourth year since joining the team. Since then, he has won nine games with an ERA of 1.74 in 2020, and recorded 11 wins, five losses with an ERA of 2.10 in 2022, when he returned from a year off due to injury.
Although both 2020 and 2022 had injury periods, they showed overwhelming performance when playing games. That’s why the term “healthy Koo Chang-mo” began to come out.
Then, NC Dinos gave him a big contract ahead of this season. It was a “jackpot” worth up to 13.2 billion won (10.2 million U.S. dollars) per 6+1 year under a multi-year contract as a non-FA. As Koo Chang-mo, he has the condition to concentrate on exercising without any burden.
He was also featured in the World Baseball Classic national team just before the season. Expectations were high on him as a pitcher who would succeed Kim Kwang-hyun and Yang Hyun-jong in the team’s left-hander lineage.
Koo Chang-mo’s performance in WBC was below expectations, but not only Koo Chang-mo but also other pitchers were sluggish together, so it was not very disappointing. 랭크카지노
And in the season that began, Koo suffered some ups and downs at the beginning of the season, but he regained stability. As if he were not sick, he was on a roll until May, proving that he was the top starting pitcher in the league.
However, he was hampered again by the assumption that “if it doesn’t hurt.” He felt arm pain again. He returned from the LG Twins game on June 2, but went down after throwing five pitches, and Koo disappeared from the first division again.
Still, he breathed a sigh as he made the final roster of the Asian Games national team. As some said he could recover in about a month, there was no reason for the national team not to pick Koo Chang-mo, a certain starting pitcher, as a wild card.
However, his return to the mound was delayed gradually. He failed to return in July or August, raising concerns. He returned only in September, but he was fit enough to play as a bullpen pitcher, and the team eventually decided to replace Koo.