Kiwoom Heroes ‘Ace’ Woo-jin Ahn (24) sets out to save the team from a crisis that is in a 7-game losing streak.안전놀이터
Kiwoom featured Ahn Woo-jin as the starting pitcher in the first game of the second half against the Lotte Giants in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 21st. Lotte faces foreign pitcher Charlie Barnes.
An Woo-jin, who won the Golden Glove last year and reigned as the best ace in the KBO League both in name and reality, is also performing steadily as Kiwoom’s first starter this year. An Woo-jin, who appeared in 17 games in the first half and recorded an ERA of 2.44 with 6 wins and 5 losses, ranked 4th in the ERA category in the league and 1st among domestic pitchers. He also has good detailed records, such as 1st in strikeouts (130) and 3rd in on-base percentage per inning (WHIP, 1.05).
Despite these performances, the multiplier of ‘6 wins’ in the first half is a disappointing result for both An Woo-jin and Kiwoom. This season, Ahn Woo-jin ranks second in the lowest scoring assist (3.45) behind teammate Ariel Hurado (3.29). Last year (3.54, at least 2nd place) also recorded 10 wins in the first half and 15 wins in the season despite lack of scoring support, but this year the lack of scoring support has further decreased.
Ahn Woo-jin’s shoulders got heavier as he made his first appearance in the second half. Ahead of the end of the first half, Kiwoom’s ‘2.5 billion FA bullpen’ Won Jong-hyun was out of the season, and Lim Ji-yeol and Shin Jun-woo left the other line due to injuries. In addition, news of Edison Russell, who was still ranked second in the team in RBIs (42 RBIs) despite the injury vacancy, was replaced rather than returning. Ronnie Dawson, a new foreign hitter, is scheduled to join the Lotte game on the 21st, but it is unclear whether he will be able to help immediately.
Amid various bad news, Ahn Woo-jin was entrusted with the task of saving Kiwoom, who had fallen to 9th place with 7 consecutive losses, from danger. In the last appearance of the first half, he threw 120 pitches, the highest number of pitches in a single game in his personal career, but he gained enough time to recover during the All-Star Game break. Ahn Woo-jin, who threw 13 pitches in one inning at the All-Star Game on the 15th, threw a fastball of 158.8 km/h (based on Trackman), confirming that there was no problem with his condition.
5th place Lotte, the opponent for the first game of the second half, suffered a crushing loss to the NC Dinos in the last two games of the first half, and the mood has calmed down a lot. However, starter Charlie Barnes had a jagged pace this season, and the two games against Kiwoom were good with an average ERA of 1.80 (10 innings, 2 runs). Attention is focusing on whether Ahn Woo-jin will be able to save the team from a losing streak without becoming an ‘ancry’ in his first appearance in the second half.