There was no reversal this time, either. Choi Won-tae (27) of the LG Twins collapsed again in front of the jinx of the fall baseball, failing to take off his “bird’s chest” label.
Choi took the mound as the starting pitcher of the first round of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League postseason playoff held at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on Monday, and collapsed by allowing seven hits (two homers), three strikeouts and five runs in three innings. The mound lost 4-10 to Samsung by allowing 14 hits and three homers.
After struggling hard to reach Game 5 in the semi-PO, LG selected Choi as the starting member in the first game. We had high hopes for Choi, who had one win and two runs and one earned run in 10 ⅔ innings in two regular season games, and six scoreless innings in one away game in Daegu, but the result was an early substitute.
Choi got off to a shaky start by allowing a long hit from the first inning. Having struck out leadoff hitter Kim Ji-chan at the bottom of the first inning, Choi immediately faced the crisis of losing a point after being hit twice by second batter Yoon Jeong-bin. He allowed Gu Ja-wook to make an infield hit, facing a crisis of crisis with one out and runners on the first and second bases, and eventually gave up a fly to center field to Lewin Diaz, who allowed a fly to score one point.
Choi Won-tae, who struck out Kang Min-ho with a fly ball to right field and Kim Young-woong with a swing and miss in the second inning, had a right-handed hit after a full count match with Lee Jae-hyun, but blocked Ryu Ji-hyuk with a swing and miss strikeout and settled the inning easily.
The problem was the third inning. Kim Ji-chan and Yoon Jeong-bin had consecutive hits, causing danger to the first and third bases with no outs. Choi allowed a three-run home run against Koo Ja-wook when his slider at the third pitch from the ball count 1-1 concentrated on the high course. The score widened to 0-4 instantly. Choi treated Park Byung-ho to a straight hit at the third base and Kang Min-ho to a ground ball at the third base, before ending the third inning without allowing any additional runs.
In the top of the fourth inning, Oh Ji-hwan hit a solo shot off Samsung starter 꽁머니, trying to reverse the mood. However, Choi once again poured cold water on him. Taking the mound in the bottom of the fourth inning, Choi had a 1-2 advantage against leadoff hitter Kim Young-woong, but had a solo shot against the center due to changeups in the fourth pitch. Choi, who gave up his fifth score, handed over the mound to Yoo Young-chan to end the game.
Choi’s poor performance in fall baseball is not limited to this year. Including the first game of this PO, Choi pitched in 17 postseason games (six starts) and was labeled as “fall baseball’s new star” as he was sluggish with an earned run average of 11.16 (34 runs and 31 earned runs in 25 innings). The only postseason series in which Choi pitched without losing a point was the 2022 playoffs (two ⅓, three innings without allowing a run).
In particular, the results were more disastrous when he started. In 2019, when he was a Kiwoom Heroes player, he gave up four runs on six hits (one homer) in one inning against semi-PO LG, four hits (two homeruns) in four innings against PO SK Wyverns, and two hits and three runs in two innings against the Doosan Bears of the Korean Series, all of which collapsed without completing the fifth inning.
Even after moving to LG, he allowed four runs in ⅓ innings against KT in the Korean Series last year, three runs in two ⅔ against KT in the semi-PO KT this year, and five runs in three innings against Samsung in PO. His overall postseason starts are disastrous with one loss and an earned run average of 15.92 (24 runs and 23 earned runs in 13 innings) in six games, and an earned run average of 15.43 (13 runs and 12 earned runs in seven innings) in fall baseball after moving to LG.
On July 29, 2023, LG recruited Choi Won-tae as the “winning contractor” by giving up the first round of the rookie draft with Lee Ju-hyung and Kim Dong-kyu. Choi Won-tae, who served as a native ace with 6 wins, 4 losses and an ERA of 3.25 in 17 games at Kiwoom, showed disappointment with 9 games with 3 wins, 3 losses and an ERA of 6.70.
Choi, who will become a free agent after the 2024 season, posted 9 wins, 7 losses and an ERA of 4.26 in 24 regular-season games, showing good performance despite his pitching trend. Amid the overall atmosphere of the KBO League, which is increasingly lacking starting resources, Choi and Eom Sang-baek (KT) were considered the biggest fish for free agent pitchers. However, they were frustrated again in the post-season and couldn’t escape the stigma of being a newbie. The crushing defeat in the first round of the PO caused a setback in the “defending champion” LG’s plan to seek its second consecutive win in the Korean Series, and Choi’s poor pitching caused the FA to lose its value.
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