Only 7 pitches KK → 1 inning deleted', Hanwha 156km fireball confesses unexpected frustration, "I was daunted during camp."
Only 7 pitches KK → 1 inning deleted', Hanwha 156km fireball confesses unexpected frustration, "I was daunted during camp."
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Hanwha Eagles right-hander fireball rookie Jung Woo-joo (19) revealed his unexpected inner thoughts even though he pitched overwhelmingly in his own Cheongbaek match.
Hanwha held its own Cheongbaek match at Hanwha Life Ballpark in Daejeon on Sunday. After returning to Korea on Friday after two months of spring camp, the Hanwha team sought to check conditions of its first and second division pitchers as well as adaptation training for its new home stadium. In the match between the first division players and the Futures players, the first division team won a landslide 11-3 victory by banking on starting pitcher Ryan Weiss' four hits, one walk, six strikeouts and two runs (0 earned) in three innings, and Kwon Kwang-min's four-base hit.먹튀검증
In the first team, Lee Jin-young played 2 hits, 2 runs and 1 hit ball in 3 at-bats, Hwang Young-mook played 2 hits in 3 at-bats, 2 walks, 1 RBI and 2 runs in 3 at-bats, and Lim Jong-chan played 2 hits, 1 walk and 2 RBIs in 3 at-bats. Despite being put in late in the top of the 6th inning, Kwon Kwang-min got a walk after his first home run at the new stadium and played a second base game. In the Futures team, Jang Kyu-hyun made an impact by scoring an RBI with a large double that flew to the right fence amid sporadic hits without multiple hits.
Both the first team and the Futures team showed strong pitching performance. A total of 14 pitchers – seven per team – took the mound, while other pitchers except Hwang Joon-seo (five runs allowed in two innings) and Won Jong-hyuk (five runs in two ⅔ innings) pitched well with less than one earned run.
In particular, Jung Woo-joo, a special rookie who was nominated by Hanwha as the second overall in the first round of the KBO Rookie Draft in 2025, was remarkable. Jung Woo-joo came to the mound of the first team in the top of the seventh inning and did not give up a single hit and a walk during one inning, performing perfect pitching by striking out only two. What's more surprising is that the number of balls used in all of these processes was only seven. In addition, he consistently threw balls over 151 kilometers per hour, with a maximum speed of 154 kilometers per hour.
His performance is as expected. Jung is a right-handed fireballer who has consistently thrown fast balls up to 156 kilometers per hour since his high school days. Since he still has room for physical growth, he is considered to surpass the 160-kilometer-per-hour mark after other Hanwha players such as Moon Dong-ju (22) and Kim Seo-hyun (21). However, after leading the Blue and White match to victory, Jung confessed his unexpected frustration. "I have some bad memories. I felt a lot of things to supplement during the practice game (during the spring camp), but I'm satisfied because I was able to do it little by little. I was the worst at controlling my ball and the tempo was very slow. As a result, I felt a little daunted and lost confidence," Jung said.
Jung was not the most prominent player in this spring camp. He pitched against various teams including the Australian national baseball team, the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Chiba Lotte, the KBO League KT Wiz, and the SSG Landers, and allowed seven hits, five walks, five strikeouts, and four runs in five games and four innings.
His performance contrasted with Kwon Min-gyu (19), a left-hander of the second round, who was also selected, who pitched four practice games, five ⅔, and seven strikeouts. "I lost a lot of confidence. I couldn't meet the expectations that fans put in me, and I wanted to do well because other rookies like Kwon and Min-gyu threw well. However, I felt sorry that I couldn't do what I had to do because I was so greedy," Jung said.
Before the competition, Kwon Min-gyu and his elder brother Park Bu-seong (25) helped calm down. Jung Woo-joo said, "I talked a lot with (Kwon) Min-gyu and (Park) Bu-seong helped me a lot. I asked him, 'Why are you so good?' and he said, 'He doesn't even know' because he is so humble. But he listened to my concerns a lot."
He added, "As I changed my mindset, things that didn't fit me seem to be coming together little by little. I was really daunted and insecure, but I decided to play baseball like I did in high school, and it's going well."
After changing his mindset and receiving a little coaching from others, he began to regain his powerful pitching capability. Jung Woo-joo, who originally used fastballs and curves, quickly learned the slider that Yang Sang-moon, Hanwha's first-team pitching coach, told him to improve his skills.
It was his first pitching at the new stadium. Unlike other players who played at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon, Chung is lucky to have his first mound as a new Major League-style ballpark. "I came through the stands even on my way to work, and it was great to see that it was grander than the existing ballpark and had a good view," said Jung Woo-joo with a big smile.
"I remember being surprised that the name Jung Woo-ju was called in the first match against the Australian national team, and the fans cheered so much. I think I will be nervous if many fans come to the new stadium, so I will try to control my mind from now on. Rather than trying to do more in the future, I want to do what is going well and supplement what I need to do and show my spirit," he said.