This Aug. 21, 2023, file photo, provided by the Kiwoom Heroes, shows the Korea Baseball Organization club’s starting pitcher An Woo-jin. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 5 (Korea Bizwire) – The Kiwoom Heroes announced Tuesday their All-Star pitcher An Woo-jin will miss the rest of the season after suffering a freak shoulder injury while rehabbing from an elbow surgery in the minor league.
According to the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club, An will undergo surgery to repair ligament damage in his right collarbone, a procedure that will require about a year of recovery.
He sustained the injury in a fall while taking fungoes after an unofficial intrasquad game with the Heroes’ minor league affiliate Saturday.
An, who is fulfilling his mandatory military service in a noncombat capacity while recovering from his elbow operation in 2023, had pitched one inning in that game.
An was targeting a September return to the KBO following the end of his military service. When healthy, the 25-year-old had been among the KBO’s most dominant starting pitchers.
In 2022, An went 15-8 in 30 starts with a 2.11 ERA over 196 innings and had 224 strikeouts, just one shy of the league’s single-season record.
An was limited to 24 starts in 2023, going 9-7 with a 2.39 ERA, along with 164 strikeouts in 150 2/3 innings.
An underwent elbow surgery in September 2023 and chose to do his rehab while completing his military duty. The latest shoulder injury will rule him out for the World Baseball Classic in March next year.
According to the Heroes, players on the losing team from the intrasquad game had been scheduled to take extra fungoes as punishment. Because he was in injury rehab, An asked the coaching staff to sit out the session.
However, one of the coaches told An to join the rest of his teammates on the field because there couldn’t be any exceptions.
“The fungo session took place in the outfield, and it didn’t have high intensity,” the Heroes said. “However, we view this incident as a serious matter, something caused by a ack of safety control for our players. The coach in question has offered to resign to hold himself responsible for An Woo-jin’s injury.”
(Yonhap)
