Just two games left, just 10 points to go. Can Rookie of the Year Moon Dong-ju (19-Hanwha Eagles) keep the numbers on his report card clean and fly to Hangzhou?

Moon will start the 2023 KBO regular season against the KIA Tigers at KIA Champions Field in Gwangju on April 27. Hanwha manager Choi Won-ho has already signaled that he will not lift his innings limit. Initially, he left the door open for a change after receiving a medical report, but he has now decided to stick with the innings limit. With the possibility of fall baseball diminishing, there is no reason for Hanwha to keep Moon Dong-ju on the disabled list.

Despite ending his season early due to the innings limit, Moon is the top candidate for Rookie of the Year regardless of how his competition performs the rest of the season. With an 8-7 record and a 3.38 ERA in 21 games, he has a huge lead over the competition in Wins Above Replacement (WAR). His peers include Yoon Dong-hee (Lotte Giants) and Choi Ji-min (KIA), and juniors Kim Min-seok (Lotte) and Yoon Young-chul (KIA), but their contributions are mostly statistically different.

If there’s one number in Moon’s stats that isn’t “pretty,” it’s his wins. Despite ranking ninth in the league in ERA and third among Korean pitchers behind Ahn Woo-jin (Kiwoom Heroes – 2.43) and Ko Young-pyo (KT Wiz – 2.45), he has yet to reach 10 wins. The only other variable in the Rookie of the Year race is whether Yoon Young-chul (7 wins) reaches 10 wins.

With Yoon not competing in the Asian Games, there are plenty of opportunities left for him to pitch, while Moon has limited opportunities. If he reaches 10 wins, he will literally be ‘flawless’.

Ten wins are valuable and meaningful even if you’re not the Rookie of the Year. Ten wins is valuable even if you’re not the rookie of the year. Last year, Hanwha had the most wins among domestic and foreign pitchers with seven (Jang Min-jae). This is the second time in two years that the team has produced a 10-win pitcher. Since Ryu Hyun-jin (now with the Toronto Blue Jays) in 2011, Hanwha’s only other 10-win pitchers were Ahn Young-myung (10 wins) in 2015 and Kim Min-woo (14 wins) in 2021.

The 27th’s opponent, KIA, is not only Moon’s hometown team (he graduated from Gwangju Dongseong High School), but also one he has yet to beat. He has a 3.52 ERA and a 0.193 batting average in three games this season, but hasn’t had much luck against them, going 0-1. Unlike the SSG Landers (1 loss, 27.00 ERA) and Lotte (2 losses, 12.15 ERA), whose opponents were not as good.메이저사이트

Meanwhile, after 27 games, Moon Dong-ju’s last appearance of the season will be on September 2 against the LG Twins in Jamsil. After LG, Moon will have three to four weeks to recover and get in shape for the Asian Games.