'This is a 150 million aquarani' Wang Yancheng's intense debut, and Hanwha's hit product to erase the 'Phone and Wow' gap is expected [the site of a war]

*This content was translated by AI.

Wang Yancheng (25, Hanwha Eagles) clearly showed the positive effects he expected from Asian quarter players from his KBO League debut. It instilled expectations with a card of determination to erase the transfer gap between Cody Ponce (Toronto Blue Jays) and Ryan Weiss (Houston Astros).

Wang Yan-cheng started the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League home game against the Kiwoom Heroes at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 29th and threw 95 pitches in five ⅓ innings, allowing four hits, two outs, five strikeouts, and three runs.

Taiwanese pitcher Wang Yancheng, who has gone through the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB), signed a contract with Hanwha for $100,000 a year (about 150 million won) as an Asian quarter pitcher ahead of the season. Hanwha, which moved quickly, was keeping an eye on Wang Yancheng enough to sign the official first Asian quarter contract.

That expectation was shown intact. Since the spring camp practice game, he has played well with a fastball approaching 150 kilometers per hour, mixing curves, sliders (sweeper), and folk balls, raising expectations with an ERA of 2.92 in 12 ⅓ innings in three games.

After Wilkel Hernandez the day before, he got a chance in the second game of the home opener. It is the earliest debut as an Asian quarter pitcher. As such, Wang Yancheng's completeness was highly evaluated.

Although he won a pleasant walk-off victory the previous day, he used as many as eight bullpen pitchers, causing a lot of bleeding. Wang Yancheng had to drag it as long as possible.

Coach Kim Kyung-moon said before the game, "I hope to throw more than five times. "I'd like to throw a small number until the fifth inning, go into the sixth inning, and then change it by looking at the situation," he said.

Wang Yancheng, who struck out Lee Ju-hyung with a sweeper in the top of the first inning, ended up with three outs and two runs in the second inning after receiving consecutive hits from Kim Gun-hee and Eo Jun-seo with one out, allowing rookie Choi Jae-young to double to left-center with two outs and runners on first and second bases.

However, he has since stabilized. Starting with the third inning, he finished with three outs and three outs until the fourth and fifth innings. Based on his sharp control, he caught Kiwoom batters off guard. Three of the five strikeouts he made on the day were rookie strikeouts. He froze Kiwoom batters with an untouchable outer sweeper and a low-course fastball.

He faced a crisis in the sixth inning. After allowing the leadoff hitter Lee Joo-hyung to hit the ball, An Chi-hong got a hit. Trenton Brooks struck out as a rookie, but he later committed a wild pitch and walked Park Chan-hyuk, putting him on the verge of loading the bases with one out.

In the end, Hanwha's bench moved and Kim Do-bin, who took over the ball, allowed one successor to score with a sacrifice fly to right field, increasing Wang Yancheng's run to three, but Eo Jun-seo was grounded out to second base to keep the winning requirements.

On this day, Wang Yancheng put 61 of the 95 pitches into the strike zone and recorded a maximum fastball of 148 kilometers per hour. He threw 63 four-seam (36 pitches) and two-seam (27 pitches) and threw 28 sliders, effectively blocking Kiwoom batters with two-pitch pitches.

As the manager wished, he held out until the fifth inning to meet the basic requirements to minimize the consumption of the bullpen. He received seven strong points of scoring support and even took the winning requirements. Wang Yancheng signed a 150 million won contract and wore a Hanwha uniform, but has already become a lucky charm for head coach Kim Kyung-moon and Hanwha fans. Even though Ponce and Weiss have left, if they work together with Wilkel Hernandez and Owen White, they can expect to minimize the gap between Ponce and Weiss.

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*This content was translated by AI.