'Shock': Taiwan's Moon Dong-ju also ends up on the operating table! "Out for at least 7–8 weeks due to lumbar disc herniation"

*This content was translated by AI.

The "future of Taiwanese baseball" and "core ace on the mound" has unexpectedly collapsed due to injury. Shiu Lo-shi (26), a right-handed fireballer known among domestic baseball fans as "Taiwan's Moon Dong-ju" and highly anticipated, is now expected to undergo surgery.

Local media outlets including Taiwan's Minshi TV (FTV) reported on the 5th that Shiu Lo-shi, a right-handed pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), is highly likely to undergo surgery for spinal disc herniation (lumbar disc herniation).

According to the reports, Shiu Lo-shi has traveled from Japan back to Taiwan for surgery. While the SoftBank club declined to comment on his physical condition, it confirmed that he is preparing for the procedure. The expected recovery and rehabilitation period following surgery ranges from a minimum of seven to eight weeks, making an absence of nearly two months unavoidable.

Shiu Lo-shi is widely regarded as Taiwan's top right-handed pitcher, known for his explosive fastball reaching the high 150 km/h range and sharp breaking balls. His overwhelming pitching ability, potential, and style closely mirror that of Hanwha Eagles ace Moon Dong-ju, making him a familiar figure to domestic baseball fans.

In fact, last season he dominated the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), becoming a target for scouts worldwide. Due to his overwhelming performance, multiple Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs including the prestigious Los Angeles Dodgers explored acquisition possibilities, while several NPB teams also joined the bidding race, sparking intense off-field competition.

SoftBank emerged victorious in this fierce competition. Offering the unprecedented condition of a guaranteed "starting pitcher role," SoftBank successfully signed Shiu Lo-shi last November. The contract size was an impressive 3-year total of 1.5 billion yen (approximately 14.2 billion won), an exceptional treatment for a foreign pitching prospect.

Although he was expected to be the next-generation cornerstone of SoftBank's mound, his career has been derailed by a "lumbar injury" that is particularly devastating for pitchers. With issues arising in his lower back—the central axis responsible for transferring rotational power between the lower and upper body during pitching—both the club and the player reportedly made the difficult decision to opt for surgery after careful consideration to ensure definitive treatment.

His performance, viewed objectively, was not particularly impressive. He started all six NPB first-division games but posted a record of 2 wins and 3 losses with an ERA of 4.99. His batting average against reached 0.306, and his WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) stood at 1.60, which was relatively high. After pitching scorelessly for three innings with one hit allowed and six strikeouts in a Futures League game against the Hanshin Tigers on June 14, he has not appeared in any official games since.

Ultimately, the disappointing performance in his first season in Japan, coupled with a high batting average against, appears to have been caused by a collapse in pitching balance due to lumbar pain. Given that he entered Japan under conditions of guaranteed starting role and exceptional treatment, this surgery may simply be a "brief pause" to enable even greater leaps forward. It remains to be seen whether Shiu Lo-shi can overcome the curse of injury, return in good health, and prove that the expectations placed on him by both MLB and NPB were well-founded.

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*This content was translated by AI.