'Triple A ERA 20.25' Ko Woo-seok 'finally' will return to LG, but the last team in ML will also be demoted to Double A

*This content was translated by AI.

Has it really come time for Ko Woo-seok (28), who headed to the U.S. after seeing only one Major League Baseball call-up.

Toledo Mud Hens, a Triple-A team under the Detroit Tigers, announced on its minor league website on the 9th (Korea Standard Time) that Ko Woo-suk was relegated to the double-A team, the Erie Seawolves.

It is the third Double-A team in Ko Woo-suk's career. When he took his first challenge in 2024, he played for the San Antonio Mission under the San Diego Padres and the Pensacola Blue Wahoos after being traded to the Miami Marlins in 2025.

The personality is slightly different from the previous two double-A lines. During his time in San Diego, he started with the Double-A team as planned by the team so that he could adapt to the United States. The league, which includes the San Diego Triple-A team, is a batting-friendly place, so it was considered to lose confidence before adapting.

After being traded to Miami in May 2024, it started afresh as a minor league contract after being assigned the designation. In 2025, he suffered a finger injury in the spring camp and was in the process of coming up step by step from the rookie league.

He also finished the season with Triple-A in the process of moving to Detroit after another release. However, this time, the situation is not good in that it went down to Double-A after two appearances in Triple-A without any other injuries.

Looking at the performance alone, it's not that you can't understand the club's choice. In the neutral Triple-A league, he is not very good with a two-game ERA (ERA) of 20.25, five walks in one ⅓, and two strikeouts in one inning, and WHIP (on-base allowance per inning) of 4.50.

On the 3rd, the last appearance, the visiting game record against the Syracuse Mets (New York Mets Triple-A team) was one hit, two walks, and two strikeouts in one inning, but the contents were not good.

The hitters faced at this time were MJ Melendez, Ronnie Mauricio, Ryan Clifford, Christian Arroyo, Vidal Bruyan and Christian Pachet, most of whom had big league experience. It was an opportunity to test Ko Woo-seok's competitiveness because they were pushed back due to the Mets' thick player base.

At an important moment, Ko Woo-seok shook once again. Mauricio's hit was a technical push, and Clifford struck out a foul tip. He gave up a walk while focusing on the outside game against Arroyo. The ball across the strike zone was the only cutter on the third pitch.

The same was true of Bruyan. The fastball game was not directed inside the strike zone and was on the verge of loading the bases. Fortunately, he turned Pachet with a fly ball to center field and finished scoreless, but he clearly left one hit and two walks on the record sheet.

What is hopeless is that Detroit is the lowest team in the Major League and needs a lot of pitchers. Ko Woo-seok headed to Detroit, where competition opportunities are relatively open, with the desire to go to the Major League once again after agonizing over the end of last season. However, unlike in Korea, it did not show any fastballs and pitches up to 158 kilometers per hour. This is why there have been rumors of a steady return to LG Twins since last year.

Ko Woo-seok won the Korean Series at LG in 2023 and signed a two-plus-year, four-and-a-half-million-dollar contract with the San Diego Padres through the posting system that winter to challenge the major leagues. Since he is not a free agent, he has no choice but to return to LG, his original team, unconditionally if he returns to Korea. Of course, it is possible to take the mound in the Major League after successfully reorganizing the remaining games and dramatically going through Triple-A again. It's not like there isn't really such a case.

However, if it fails to show competitiveness as it is, the end of June is expected to be the first crisis. As in the past, Choi Ji-man (35) and others, the minor leagues will also organize their teams ahead of the All-Star break in July. It is also during this period that players who have conditions to opt out (break the contract due to the exercise of FA rights during the contract period) become minor league FA. Will Ko Woo-seok be able to succeed in taking the mound in the big league at least once.

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*This content was translated by AI.