A baby eagle born again in difficult times Jo Dong, Hanwha’s third ‘high school graduate rookie debut’
Hanwha Eagles, who had been mired in a slump, won a winning series against Kiwoom Heroes after 42 days. At the center of the rebound was left-hander Jo Dong-wook (20), a high school graduate.
In the game against Kiwoom Heroes on the 12th, Jo Dong-wook pitched well, throwing only 70 pitches over 6 innings, allowing 3 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run (unearned). Hanwha won 8–3 against Kiwoom, and Jo Dong-wook enjoyed the joy of becoming the winning pitcher in his debut.
Hanwha was on the verge of falling to last place, but thanks to the performance of high school rookie Cho Dong-wook, it achieved a winning series in 42 days and rose to a tie for 8th place with Kiwoom.
Hanwha, which was at the top of the leaderboard with 7 consecutive wins since the opening, played 3 consecutive games during the week against the last-place Lotte Giants from the 7th, and 3 consecutive weekend games against Kiwoom Heroes from the 10th.
Before the game, Hanwha was in 9th place, 2 games ahead of Lotte. Depending on the results of the match between the three bottom-ranked teams, Hanwha was in danger of being in last place for the first time since the start of the season. The start was also uneasy.
Hanwha’s game on the 7th was canceled due to rain, so Ryu Hyun-jin, who had an extra day of rest, started against Lotte on the 8th, but performed poorly, allowing 5 runs in 5 innings, and ended up losing 1–6. Hanwha, which suffered a crushing defeat of 18–5 in the game on the 9th, narrowly maintained 9th place, only slightly ahead of Lotte in winning percentage.
Hanwha, who returned home without falling to last place, shared one win each with Kiwoom in the weekend series. However, bad news happened before the final game in which the winning series was at stake. This is because Moon Dong-ju, who performed poorly at the beginning of the season and was lowered to the second team, tried to pitch against Kiwoom on the 12th, but his return was delayed.
Ahead of an important match, Hanwha coach Choi Won-ho selected high school graduate rookie Cho Dong-wook as a replacement starter.
Jo Dong-wook appeared in 5 games in the Futures League and achieved good results with 2 wins, 1 loss, and an ERA of 2.74, but not many people had high expectations because the 1st and 2nd teams were different stages. However, Jo Dong-wook defied everyone’s expectations and neutralized Kiwoom’s batting lineup with his gutsy pitching.
Although it was Jo Dong-wook’s first appearance as a first-team pitcher, he showed an uncharacteristic performance as a rookie, such as making a bold game with his body even against left-handed batters. In particular, his control of breaking balls, such as his slider and changeup, was so good that even manager Choi Won-ho acknowledged it.
Jo Dong-wook is the 15th time in history that a high school rookie has won his debut match. If we narrow the scope to his first year of joining, it is the 11th in history. In particular, at Hanwha, following Ryu Hyun-jin (2006) and Hwang Jun-seo, who became the winning pitcher in the KT Wiz match on March 31, Jo Dong-wook continued the winning streak in his debut as a high school rookie. There are 2 people this year alone. Hanwha manager Choi Won-ho plans to use Jo Dong-wook as a bullpen in the first team for the time being when Moon Dong-ju returns. However, just as Hwang Jun-seo is currently making up for starter Kim Min-woo’s absence due to injury, Jo Dong-wook is expected to receive more opportunities if he continues his steady performance. 19가이드03
