*This content was translated by AI.
LG Twins first-round rookie Yang Woo-jin (19) will soon be on a flight to Taiwan.
An LG team official told Star News on the phone on the 6th, "As a result of checking with the training team, Yang Woo-jin will participate in the Taiwanese camp because he can train normally. After the surgery, he continued his rehabilitation and decided that he could throw it. I will judge on the spot, but I think I can take the mound if I go and the progress is good," he explained.
Earlier, LG announced that the Futures team will leave for Jaishi, Taiwan, for training on the 8th. Coach Lee Byung-kyu, nine coaches, two trainers and 31 athletes will participate in the Taiwan off-season training, which will begin on February 9. An official from the LG team said, "Taiwan Futures Spring Camp trains a lot based on practical training. "We intend to check the skills of young players by focusing on players who can throw the ball," he hinted.
Among them, Yang Woo-jin, who was nominated by LG as the eighth-ranked player in the first round in the 2026 KBO Rookie Draft, drew attention. Yang Woo-jin is an attractive right-hander with a powerful fastball of up to 153km/h from a 190cm tall, 89kg weight. Injuries were the problem. Just before the draft, he was called the top three due to a fatigue fracture in his right arm in August last year, but he was pushed back to the 8th place in the order of selection, and failed to participate in LG's first-team spring camp, which started in January.
However, the faster-than-expected recovery is encouraging. In December last year, after careful consideration with the training part, the LG club performed a simple surgery to prevent Yang Woo-jin's fatigue fracture. As expected, rehabilitation was smooth. Rehabilitation, which was in the 30m long toss stage in January, has entered a state where it is possible to return to practice before the exhibition game. Apart from LG's willingness not to rush Yang Woo-jin back, the team's plan to return early in the season is as planned.
The development is similar to last year's Kim Young-woo (21) project. The LG team prepared Kim Young-woo, who underwent Tommy John Surgery for ligament joint surgery (Tommy John Surgery) in his elbow just before the draft, from the final camp. As a result, he was in good shape quickly enough to receive the best evaluation in the spring camp, and he also played as a closing pitcher for a brief time in the exhibition game.
Even after entering the regular season, the LG club was not in a hurry. Starting with giving up a spot in the first-team entry believing in the depth of the solid pitching staff, he adapted to the professional stage, including the losing team, the winning game by a large margin, and the close game. The result of no rush shone when it was crucial. In July, when all the injured players returned, Kim Young-woo flew high when the LG bullpen was still shaking. As a result, he played as a must-win team in the second half of the regular season, contributing to LG's overall victory with 3 wins, 2 losses, 7 holds, 1 save, an ERA of 2.40 and 56 strikeouts in 60 innings.
LG, which is confident in Kim Young-woo's growth, boldly chose Yang Woo-jin for fatigue fracture issues. Originally, he was going to nominate an infielder, but the top three prospects who slipped to the eighth place were lucky for LG. Baek Sung-jin, head of the LG Scout Team, told Star News shortly after the nomination, "I couldn't miss Yang Woo-jin. I couldn't help it. The ball power is strong, and there is even a stamina to lead the inning. He explained, "I have the qualifications to grow into a good starting pitcher."
Yang Woo-jin was a pitcher who was more of a starting type if not a fatigue fracture issue in his third year. Since his freshman year, he has been able to control his speed enough to pitch more than 90 pitches per game. In the third grade, he was evaluated as a top three prospect, showing that his ball power did not drop significantly even if he threw more than 90 pitches. He pitched eight scoreless innings in the quarterfinals between Gyeongnam High School and Cheongryong High School. He also pitched 87 innings in his high school career, which was the highlight. This is why other club officials lamented, "Lucky comes to LG."
This is why Yang Woo-jin does not show anxiety even though he started his professional career through rehabilitation. "When I came to LG, I thought I had a really good environment to be able to train and work out systematically," he said in an interview with reporters in January last year, adding, "The final target speed is 160 kilometers per hour." "I want to throw it because it's a record that only a few people have done in Korea," he said.
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*This content was translated by AI.
