[breaking news] 'Shocked' Ko Woo-seok's grand slam → Three-run shot allowed, four hits and four runs in the first ⅔ of the exhibition game against the Yankees

*This content was translated by AI.

Ko Woo-seok (28, Detroit Tigers), the "closer of the Korean national team," was hit hard from the first game of the exhibition game.

Ko Woo-seok bowed his head with four hits (two homers) and one strikeout and four runs (four earned) in ⅔ innings, allowing two home runs in an away game against the New York Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida on the 22nd (Korea time).

Ko Woo-seok took the mound in the bottom of the eighth inning with one out and full base, when his team was trailing 3-13.

However, Ko Woo-seok was shaken. Rodelic Arias, who entered the batter's box, hit a 94.3-mile four-seam fastball that escaped Ko Woo-seok's high strike zone and connected it to a grand slam over the right-center fence. The score was 17-3.

This wasn't the end. First of all, against the next batter, Marco Luciano, Ko Woo-seok, who threw a four-seam fastball for the sixth pitch after a full count match, inducing him to ground out to second base well.

Two outs. There is only one out count left until the end of the inning. However, Ko dedicated a hit to the next batter, Yovit Vivas. Ko Woo-suk, who went on to give Peyton Henry a straight hit to left field.

Then, against Jackson Castillo, he was hit by a four-seam fastball toward the body on the fourth pitch in the 2-1 ball count, and was hit by a three-run shot over the right-center fence. The score was 3-20. After that, Ko Woo-seok struck out Tyler Hardman with a swing and miss to end the inning.

Meanwhile, Ko Woo-suk is continuing his challenge to make his Major League mound debut for the third year this year.

He has already become a veteran who has gone through all sorts of hardships in the U.S. Ko Woo-seok's bid to advance to the Major League officially began in November 2023. At that time, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) took its first step when it received a request from the Major League Secretariat to check the identity of Ko Woo-seok. Ko Woo-seok said ahead of his entry into the U.S. at the time, "I personally want to stay enough to speak English well. Still, I hope he can master English.

The first club to reach out to Ko was the San Diego Padres. San Diego signed Ko Woo-seok to a two-plus-one-year, up to $9.4 million (about 12.9 billion won). Ko Woo-seok became the seventh player in the KBO League to advance to the Major League through the posting system (closed competitive bidding).

However, it was not easy to get off to a good start. Ko Woo-seok was not listed on the opening roster in the end. He went to the Double A stage, but he also struggled in the Double A stage. Eventually, in May of that year, San Diego traded Ko Woo-suk to the Miami Marlins. It was a 1:4 trade in which San Diego gave up a total of four players to San Diego, including Ko Woo-suk and prospects Jacob Marcy, Dylan Head and Nathan Matorella, instead of receiving one Luis Arraez from Miami.

This wasn't the end. To make matters worse, after being traded to Miami, he played for Triple-A and was assigned a designation. In May of that year, the Miami club officially announced, "We have dealt with Ko Woo-suk as a Designated for Assignment (DFA)." As the DFA was processed, Ko Woo-seok was immediately excluded from the 40-man roster in the Major League, and at the same time, waivers were automatically announced.

Later, as no team eventually wanted Ko Woo-seok appeared, he chose to remain a minor league player for the Miami club. Ko Woo-seok, who went down to the minor league, continued to play on the Triple-A stage and was demoted to Double-A in July, and that's how he finished the 2024 season.

After the end of the 2024 season, there was a brief talk about Ko Woo-seok's return to the Korean stage. However, rather than playing for a year and returning to Korea, Ko chose to stay in the U.S. and challenge himself.

Prior to the 2025 season, Ko Woo-seok challenged the big league again as a spring camp guest player. But bad luck hit him last year. He suffered a fractured index finger on his right hand in February. He then devoted himself to rehabilitation. After going through Rookie League and Single A one after another, they finally made it back to the Triple-A stage. Miami, however, had no intention of accompanying Ko for a long time. In the end, it was decided to be released, and another club appeared in Ko Woo-seok, which was Detroit.

After moving to Detroit, on the Triple-A stage, Ko Woo-suk pitched in 14 games, with one win and no loss, three saves with a 4.29 ERA. In a total of 21 innings, he recorded 19 hits (three home runs) 12 runs (10 earned runs) with one hit, 11 walks, 22 strikeouts, a hit rate of 0.238, and a on-base allowed rate (WHIP) of 1.43 per inning. Ko Woo-suk's overall performance in the minor leagues is 6 wins, 4 losses, 7 holds, 6 saves, and an ERA of 5.61. In a total of 94 ⅔ innings, 108 hits (13 home runs), 69 runs (59 earned runs), a four-body ball, 47 walks, 89 strikeouts, a 0.284 hit rate, and a WHIP of 1.64.

And prior to the 2026 season, he succeeded in signing a contract with Detroit again, allowing him to continue his life in the United States. However, he bowed his head after being hit hard from the first exhibition game of the day.

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*This content was translated by AI.