'As many as 9 from KIA alone' First-round candidates for the Army Baseball Team boarded buses to Mungyeong, except for 'just one'... Why is the 24th-year-old starting pitcher left in Gwangju?

*This content was translated by AI.

KIA Tigers' Hwang Dong-ha (24) voluntarily gave up enlisting in the Army Baseball Team (Military Service).

The Army Baseball Team conducted a second-round physical fitness test on the 16th at Wi Chi-han (SVP) Baseball Stadium in Mungyeong, Gyeongbuk, limited to those who passed the first-round document screening. A total of nine candidates from KIA were selected: Jung Hae-young (25), Hwang Dong-ha, Han Jae-seung (24), Yoon Young-cheol (22), Lee Seong-won (20), Kim Jeong-yeop (20, all pitchers), Yoon Do-hyun (23), Jung Hae-won (22, all infielders), and Park Heon (20, outfielder). Among them, Jung Hae-young and Han Jae-seung were also included in the first-division roster, making their participation in the latter half of the season uncertain.

Accordingly, KIA loaded the players onto the team bus and sent them to Mungyeong, and they returned after five innings. However, Hwang Dong-ha, who was traveling with the first-division team, was not among them. A KIA team official told StarNews, "Hwang Dong-ha, who applied during the first round, postponed his enlistment after recent discussions with the club. He expressed a desire to settle in further and cancel his application to join for another year."

Hwang Dong-ha is a right-handed pitcher who graduated from Jinbuk Elementary, Jeolla Middle, and Insang High School before joining KIA in the 2022 KBO Rookie Draft, selected 65th overall in the second round of the seventh round. He has consistently appeared in the first division since his second year and contributed to KIA's championship victory in 2024 with 25 games, 5 wins, 7 losses, and an ERA of 4.44 while rotating through the starting lineup.

He was expected to be a promising pitcher who would shoulder a key role in the future starting rotation, but a sudden accident put the brakes on his progress. In May last year, he was involved in a traffic accident near his team's accommodation in Incheon. He injured his back and could not play for the rest of the season, so he worked harder to prepare for the 2026 season.

When Hwang Dong-ha met StarNews during the spring training camp in Japan earlier this year, he said, "It's something that has already happened and cannot be undone. I think it's part of my growth process, so I don't feel regretful. If anything, I think I was able to develop further." He added, "It was a bit difficult while I was in the hospital. After being discharged, I started getting motivated again by watching my friends still playing baseball and cheering them on."

That effort paid off in May. Hwang Dong-ha, who started the season in the bullpen, began appearing as a starter from the last game of April. Over the month of May, he went 4-0 in five games with an ERA of 1.48, recording 24 strikeouts in 30⅓ innings, showcasing the performance of a native first-division starter and leading KIA's upward momentum. In particular, the velocity of his signature slider and his new pitch, the forkball, has improved significantly. It is understandable that he would not want to lose the feeling he barely regained after the worst injury.

Hwang Dong-ha's decision to stay is not bad for KIA either. With another promising starting pitcher, Lee Ui-ri (24), leaving for a short-term study trip to Japan with the goal of returning in the second half, there is no player to back up the foreign investor's one-two punch. Yang Hyeon-jong (38) is struggling with 3 wins and 5 losses in 12 games with an ERA of 4.32. Young Kim Tae-hyung (20) still requires careful management, and it is fortunate that Shirakawa Keisho (25) has joined and is providing steady performances.

In this situation, if Hwang Dong-ha continues to grow against first-division players and can break through to the next level, it could be a good year for KIA as well.

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*This content was translated by AI.