Will the last-place team send 'ERA 9.56→4.35' to the first nomination for the closure transformation 'ERA 9.56→4.35' and Jo Sang-woo's last-place team 'a stroke of God'
Will the last-place team send 'ERA 9.56→4.35' to the first nomination for the closure transformation 'ERA 9.56→4.35' and Jo Sang-woo's last-place team 'a stroke of God'
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Jo Sang-woo (30), the closer who represented the Kiwoom Heroes, has been traded to the KIA Tigers. He seems to have chosen Joo Seung-woo (24) to give him a finishing lesson during the season.스포츠토토
On the 19th, Kiwoom made a trade to send Cho Sang-woo by receiving the first and fourth rounds of the 2026 rookie draft and 1 billion won in cash from KIA, the winner of this year's KBO League. According to the club's explanation, it was to shorten the rebuilding period by securing a large number of young players.
Cho Sang-woo's trade was expected to some extent even before the 2024 season. Cho Sang-woo will be eligible as an FA after the end of the 2025 season. As he played as a closing player for the national team, the possibility of staying as an FA was slim. For Kiwoom, which is expected to have difficulty competing in the semifinals in 2025, the remaining year of accompanying did not benefit much.
He began to prepare for both scenarios of companionship and separation. Joo Seung-woo's closing class was in preparation for Cho Sang-woo and separation. After graduating from Song Chu-cho (Uijeongbu Little), Yeongdong Middle School, Seoul High School, and Sungkyunkwan University, Joo joined Kiwoom as the first designated KBO Rookie Draft in 2022. Although he started as a pitcher in his third year of Seoul High School, he dominated the college league by throwing fast balls up to 153 kilometers per hour, and was expected to grow as a starting pitcher due to his fast acquisition of pitches.
In the first two years, Kiwoom also tested Joo's potential as a starting pitcher. The result was a failure. His performance in the Futures League deteriorated from 3.70 ERA in 19 games (65 ⅔ innings) in 2022 to 5.58 ERA in 17 games (69 ⅓ innings) in 2023, and he was only in the losing group in the first division. He also had a poor record of 9.56 ERA in 11 games in the first division last year, his second year.
However, he started to focus on pitching in one inning after switching to a bullpen session this year. He has now regained his strength by emptying out his mind, which was complicated by mixing and pitching balls, and pursuing his signature fastball style during his college years. Starting with the bullpen session, he was promoted to the must-win group, and from mid-April, he was promoted to the closing team, earning saves. As such, he turned into a closing pitcher, and ended his third year with four wins, six losses, five holds, 14 saves, an earned run average of 4.35 and 43 strikeouts in 51 ⅔ innings. It was one of the fewest earnings for Kiwoom, which ranked last for two consecutive years.
The months-long finishing experience gave confidence to the young pitcher, who had only tasted failure. Joo Seung-woo, who recently participated in the "2024 Kiwoom Heroes Year-end Charity Event" hosted by fans and met with Star News, said, "I think I was very clumsy because this is the first season of the first team full-time. Still, I thought I would achieve better results next year through this year's experience," looking back on the 2024 season.
He did not regret returning to the bullpen. "I can change the direction that the club wants at any time. Regardless of my position, I will do my best," Joo said with a smile. "However, I am satisfied with my current position." "The management of the game is like a marathon for the starting pitcher, so it is not easy to focus on the management of the game by dividing the innings. I didn't have a lot of thoughts during the game, but I couldn't throw my own ball because I cared about the management of the game. But now that the game has changed to a bullpen, I only have to focus on one inning, allowing me to throw with strength. I think this fits me again."
By throwing as many balls as I wanted, I was able to learn the level of my current ball in the league and what needs to be supplemented. Joo Seung-woo said, "What I did best this year was that I trusted my ball and threw it with confidence. On the other hand, what was regrettable was that I tried to compete with the batter too much. When I went out in the second half of the game, I should have thrown it more elaborately to minimize my slugging, but I feel that I was too bold this year."
In the process, they often gained confidence. A typical game was against KIA at Gocheok on July 26. In that game, Joo Seung-woo came up in the top of the ninth inning with Kiwoom leading 5-4, and was in danger of getting hit by Han Jun-su and Park Chan-ho, with one out and runners on the first and third bases. The hitters that followed were Socrates Brito and Choi Won-joon, the "300 hitter," but he struck out the two with a two-seam fastball and a fork to secure saves. Conversely, the hitters that he really wants to overcome next year were Ku Ja-wook (Samsung Lions) and Mel Rojas Jr. (KT Wiz), the 2024 KBO Golden Glove winners.
"I really didn't want to lose because KIA was the No. 1 team at the time. It was a game I really wanted to win, and since we were just one point apart, I wanted to win more," Joo Seung-woo said. "I threw as Kim Jae-hyun ordered and got good results," adding, "The most difficult memory was Koo Ja-wook and Rojas. I felt like I had to guess everything wherever I threw. I felt like there was nowhere to throw, but next year, I will try to make changes in the movement and reduce the hit rate."
I also received finishing lessons from Jo Sang-woo. "I visited (Cho) Sang-woo in person when I had a hard time as I finished the game in the beginning. I recall that he told me that I should focus a little more because my arm and tension may be different when I go up to the finish line. When I chose Koo Jong and stepped on the mound, if I felt a little uncomfortable, he just told me to take my foot out and check the timing. Having such experiences during the season really helped me," Joo recalled.
This winter, Joo is aiming to increase his muscular strength and speed by exercising a balanced diet and weight training. Captain Song Seong-moon, who has been effective through thorough diet and weight training this year, has stimulated the young pitcher.
"Song Sung-moon has achieved good results through weight training this year. I want to do well like him, so I am doing weight training hard. Not only me but everyone else is using Sung-moon as their role model," Joo said. "My maximum speed this year was 154 kilometers. However, I think I will be able to get faster. I am currently studying tunneling that allows me to release my arms when throwing fastballs and breaking balls the same way, and I want to throw 155 kilometers next year to make more than 30 saves and holds combined," he said.