"Moon Dong Ju can take a week off." → Excluding the list of cold-hearted WBCs... 160km ace with shoulder pain, returning home on the 6th → Treatment on the 7th → Return to Australia on the 8th

*This content was translated by AI.

"I decided it was difficult to expect a normal appearance."

The starting pitcher who throws the fastest ball in the Korean baseball team has left. Hanwha Eagles said they need a week off from the 5th, but Ryu Ji-hyun (55), head coach of the national baseball team, made a bold decision.

On the morning of the 6th (Korea Standard Time), the list of players participating in the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was released in real time through MLB Network. There was no name for Moon Dong-ju here.

Moon Dong-ju, the 2023 season's Rookie of the Year, was reborn as the league's best starting pitcher by spraying fastballs with speeds of up to 160km/h. Last year, he played 121 innings in 24 games to secure 11 wins and 135 strikeouts.

He was also called up to the first camp of the national team held in Saipan last month, drawing attention by constantly asking questions to senior pitchers including Won Tae-in (Samsung). Since it is a WBC with all the top-class players, Moon Dong-ju's fearsome fastball was more urgent than any other competition, and he was expected to carry the role of an ace.

However, he was once again hampered by injuries that have plagued him since his debut. Hanwha said Moon Dong-joo "has stopped pitching due to shoulder pain during practice pitching for bullpen pitching on the 4th."

The deadline for submitting the entry was 2 p.m. that day. Since it was a deadline, there was a strong possibility that the entry had already been submitted before then. Of course, it could have been expected that Moon Dong-ju would be included in the national team entry, but it was a mistake.

Ryu Ji-hyun, head coach of the national team, said at a press conference to announce the reason for the national team's roster. Even before the news of the injury was reported on the 4th, Moon Dong-ju's physical condition was unusual.

Director Ryu said, "The first call from Hanwha was in the morning of the 30th. I was scheduled to enter the bullpen for the first time, but I couldn't enter pitching because my shoulder was in bad condition. Since then, he has been in constant communication with his condition, and as it is known, he confirmed that he entered the bullpen on the 22nd pitch on the 1st and watched the video. The pain of entering the first bullpen disappeared a little. I heard that I was able to enter the bullpen," he said. Up to this point, it seemed that the worry would stop.

However, the injury worsened. Director Ryu said, "The next thing was the morning of the 4th. I tried to enter the bullpen, but I was in poor condition when I played catch, and I heard from Hanwha that the pain was stronger than the 30th when I entered the bullpen. In that sense, the Hanwha team was thinking of a schedule that requires at least five days to a week off, he said. "In that situation, the national team thought that it would be a schedule to start from scratch after a week of rest, considering that the practice plan is scheduled on March 5 (the first game) and February 15 (the second camp call-up date)."

It seems that the submission of the entry was delayed until the last minute in case of an emergency. After finding out that Moon Dong-ju's situation worsened on the morning of the 4th, he submitted an entry by filling in other pitchers without him.

Moon Dong-ju, who showed extraordinary enthusiasm, had to drop his head again due to his injury. Of course, even after submitting the entry, it can be replaced in case of injury. It is also true that Moon Dong-ju is an indispensable card.

Nevertheless, Ryu made a more sober judgment. With the opening of the tournament just a month away, if you devote a week to recovery, there is a possibility that you can join the national team and play. If the situation does not improve even then, there is also a way to select another player as an injury replacement.

However, even if there is no abnormality in the body, other players will have to go through a series of processes that they have already completed from the ground up, and eventually there will be not enough time to raise them to their best condition. Fortunately, except for Korean players, they were all participating in Saipan camp and improving their condition early on.

Moon Dong-ju intends to focus only on recovery for now. According to the Hanwha team, Moon Dong-ju is scheduled to return home temporarily on the same day. After completing hospital treatment on the 7th, he will fly back to Australia on the 8th. An official from Hanwha explained, "It was originally scheduled to be treated before joining Okinawa (camp) after watching the condition, but it was decided to proceed with the treatment by pulling the schedule due to the Lunar New Year holiday."

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*This content was translated by AI.