Won Tae-in (Samsung Lions) made a clean pitch in his first appearance in this year’s demonstration game, clearing away concerns about the ‘WBC sequelae’.

Won Tae-in took the mound at the bottom of the안전놀이터 4th inning after the team turned 6-5 in an away game against Kiwoom Heroes held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro-gu, Seoul on the 23rd, and blocked 4 innings with no hits and no runs and 5 strikeouts. He didn’t even give up.

When the announcer announced the news of Won Tae-in’s start, cheers erupted at Gocheok Dome.

The Korean baseball team was eliminated in the first round of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), but the voices of support for Won Tae-in, who appeared in only three games, were loud.

Won Tae-in’s first pitch was a fastball with a speed of 146 km/h, and it was judged as a strike.

He treated first batter Lim Ji-yeol with a shortstop ground ball, then Kim Hye-sung and Lim Byung-wook struck out consecutively, ending the first inning with a three-way strike.

He also won a confrontation with Lee Jeong-hoo, the best hitter in the KBO league and who played together in the WBC.

Won Tae-in threw a sharply falling changeup and threw the first hitter Lee Jung-hoo off balance in the bottom of the 5th inning. Lee Jung-hoo retreated with a powerless first baseman grounder.

Won Tae-in, who caught Addison Russell as a fly ball in right field, treated Tae-jin Kim as a looking strikeout and continued the streak of hits.

Won Tae-in treated Hyung-jong Lee, Hwi-jip Kim, and Jae-hyeon Kim all with ground balls in front of the shortstop in the 6th inning.

Won Tae-in, who was on the mound in the 7th inning, struck out Kim Soo-hwan and Kim Joo-hyeong consecutively, and finished the scheduled pitch by cooking Park Joo-hong with a ground ball in front of the first baseman. He pitched effectively enough to fill four innings with 45 balls.

Samsung coach Park Jin-man said before the game, “Won Tae-in will throw about 50 balls today, and (on the last day of the demonstration game) he will start the match against Daegu Hanwha on the 28th.” Looking at his condition, we may delay the start of the regular season a little bit.”

First of all, Won Tae-in relieved manager Park Jin-man’s worries with a light pitch in his first appearance after the WBC was over.