*This content was translated by AI.
"I haven't been able to help the team much so far."
With poor performance compounded by injury, Choi Won-tae (29, Samsung Lions) could not hold his head high. That made his strong outing even more valuable.
On the 14th, starting against the Hanwha Eagles at Daegu Samsung Lions Park for the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League home game, Choi Won-tae pitched 5⅔ innings, throwing 82 pitches and allowing five hits (one home run), two walks/strikeouts combined, recording six strikeouts while giving up only one earned run.
Ahead of last season, Choi Won-tae signed a four-year free agent contract totaling 7 billion won (including a 1.2 billion won option). He recorded eight wins and seven losses with an ERA of 4.92 last year, but this season he managed only three wins and four losses in 17 games.
Choi Won-tae, who was placed on the injured list on the 29th of last month due to minor muscle damage in his right arm, returned to the mound after 17 days.
His fastball reached a top speed of 151 km/h, and he threw 46 pitches of two types of fastballs. The power of his fastball was intact, which made his breaking balls more effective as well. He mixed in 16 cutter pitches, 15 changeups, and five curveballs to suppress the Hanwha lineup.
The start was good. Choi Won-tae retired the side in order in the first inning, then struck out both the last batter of the first and the first batter of the second with high fastballs for swinging strikeouts. He then threw a cutter to the same location against Noh Si-hwan, recording another strikeout.
Through four innings without any special trouble, Choi Won-tae had thrown only 45 pitches when he faced the fateful fifth inning. Having suffered the painful experience of being pulled in both of his previous two games before reaching the fifth, he wavered as the fifth began. He allowed a single to leadoff batter Chae Eun-seong on a ground ball to left field and gave up a hit to Lee Do-yoon with one out. The hits came against lower-order batters, making it even more painful.
However, Choi Won-tae struck out Sim Woo-jun on a swinging strikeout, then engaged in an aggressive battle against Choi In-ho, building a favorable count before finally striking him out with a delicate changeup and securing the win condition.
After adding three more runs, including back-to-back home runs by Kang Min-ho and Lee Jae-hyun in the bottom of the fifth, he took the mound in the sixth with a four-run lead.
In the top of the sixth with one out, Moon Hyun-bin hit a solo home run after Choi Won-tae's changeup moved inside, but he retired Kang Baek-ho on a foul fly to third base.
His pitch count was still under 80. Nevertheless, after allowing a walk to Noh Si-hwan, the Samsung bench moved. They brought in right-handed reliever Lee Seung-hyun instead of Choi Won-tae. Fortunately, he prevented any additional runs and completed the inning, maintaining Choi Won-tae's eligibility for the win.
Thanks to four more runs, including a three-run home run by Koo Ja-wook in the sixth, they extended their lead to eight runs before allowing four runs in the eighth, but still secured an 8-5 victory. Choi Won-tae earned his fourth win of the season (with four losses), and lowered his ERA from 5.04 to 4.83.
Manager Park Jin-man said after the game, "Starting pitcher Choi Won-tae has returned well prepared. He showed good stuff and a confident presence on the mound, handling the game well. We look forward to his future appearances."
Choi Won-tae, who felt deeply that he had not fulfilled his role, even tried a special fashion to return to his original mindset. Choi said, "My teammates helped me a lot. (Choi) Hyung-woo made me feel relaxed before I started pitching, so I could pitch comfortably. Lee Seung-hyun also saw me wearing the 'Nonggun' (a fashion where socks are pulled up over pants), which he hadn't worn in 10 years. It was my intention to return to my original self."
He also meshed well with Kang Min-ho, who had been called up earlier the previous day. "We talked a lot while analyzing opponents' strengths and weaknesses with (Kang) Min-ho, and it seems that part worked out well for us," he said. "My fastball was good today, so I wanted to throw hard. Min-ho's lead was great, so I want to express my sincere gratitude to him. I haven't been able to help the team much so far. I will try even harder from now on."
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*This content was translated by AI.
