“You need to slow down your changeup. (Moon) Dong-ju (20, Hanwha Eagles) pitches are all fast. (The changeup) can get caught on the hitter’s fastball (timing).”
Moon Dong-joo,메이저놀이터 who made his professional debut last year, is a right-handed pitcher who is attracting a lot of attention with his fastball that reaches 160 km. In his debut season, he showed potential with 1 win, 3 losses and 2 holds average ERA of 5.65 in 13 games, and this year he entered the starting rotation in earnest and is active. As of the 22nd, his performance is 2 wins and 4 losses with an average ERA of 4.50 in 7 appearances (34 innings).
However, Moon Dong-ju has recently fallen into sluggishness. On the 13th, against Incheon SSG Landers (5-8 Hanwha loss), 2.1 innings, 7 hits, 5 runs, 7 runs, and on the 19th, against the LG Twins in Jamsil (1-3 Hanwha loss), 4 hits, 4 hits, 4 runs, 4 strikeouts 3 in 4 innings I couldn’t digest long innings because of the run.
Moon Dong-ju received an assignment to reduce the speed of the changeup from Hanwha coach Choi Won-ho, the commanding tower. Photo = Reporter Kim Young-gu
However, in the game against LG on the 19th, he used a ‘fast speed changing ball’ and received a lot of attention. At the end of the 3rd inning, I threw a changeup with 6 pitches to Kim Hyun-soo from 2nd, 2nd and 3rd base, and it was 149.2km.
This is the speed measured by the ‘Pitch Tracking System (PTS)’ operated by Sports 2I, an official record statistics company of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), and is the fastest record since 2014 when official velocity was measured. As an aside, the previous record in this category was the 148.2km changeup achieved by LG Ko Woo-seok in the KIA Tigers match on April 3 last year.
However, a quick changeup can be a ‘double-edged sword’ for a fastball pitcher like Moon Dong-ju. If the drop of the ball is not large, it is because batters who have been waiting for the timing of the fastball can attack more easily. Hanwha coach Choi Won-ho had the same idea.
Coach Choi, who met ahead of the match against LG in Jamsil on the 20th (1-1 draw), first commented on Moon Dong-joo’s changeup restraint, “It seems to have been measured incorrectly. (Originally) I was caught in the early 140km, but I think I got it wrong. With this (change-up) grip, he laughed, saying, “How can I throw 150 km?”
At the same time, director Choi Won-ho also gave Moon Dong-ju a clear message. He said, “I told (Moon Dong-ju) that the change-up speed is too fast, so it takes the timing of (batters’) fastballs.” It (change-up speed) needs to be lowered, but one of the many ways was to ‘throw it during practice as if you were throwing a slow ball with the same pitching form,’” he said. told
Director Choi continued, “I had fun doing that when I was a player. In the 2000s, Korean players began to use the changeup. I learned it in the US, but it didn’t work out well,” he said. From then on, I threw a (such) changeup that the ball came all the way and didn’t arrive quickly,” he also told his own experience.
In addition, coach Choi Won-ho said, “(Such a changeup) needs to be considered. (Moon Dong-ju’s pitches) are all fast. It’s all fast, so the slider and changeup can get caught while going out on the fastball (timing). It can be a powerful ball if it goes into the manned ball, but if you go to the center, there is a high probability of being caught (by hitters). The day before (against LG on the 19th), (the changeup) was hit at the timing of (the hitters’) fastball. You just have to learn little by little,” he explained.
Coach Choi emphasized ‘head-to-head match’ to Moon Dong-ju, who is starting a sortie ahead of the game against LG on the 19th. However, Moon Dong-ju failed to live up to the command tower’s wishes by committing four sand dunes in the game.
“If you say something right away… “Pitchers basically have a desire to do corner work,” said Choi Won-ho, who showed a smile. When I do corner work, the ball comes off little by little. This is why pitchers with good control have a lot of pitches,” he said. (Moon) Dong-joo’s ball has movement left and right, so even if you throw it in the middle, the ball bends a little toward the right-handed hitter. so i thought it was ok I tried to do the same (trying to throw it in the middle), but it fell off little by little. Still, it was definitely better than the last time (against SSG on the 13th, 2.1 innings, 7 runs).”
Moon Dong-joo has not had many pitching careers. He began to climb the mound in earnest in 2020, when he was a sophomore at Jinheung High School in Gwangju. Manager Choi predicted that Moon Dong-ju, who has a fast ball, would rise to the ranks of the best pitchers if he accumulated more experience as a pitcher and his pitching was stable.
Manager Choi Won-ho said, “I heard that (Moon Dong-ju) started pitching in the second year of high school. (After entering the pro) There are pitchers who can throw right away like Ryu Hyun-jin (Toronto Blue Jays), but there are not many,” he said. “(Now) it is important to rotate the starting rotation in a healthy way. (Moon Dong-ju) is only 20 years old. An Woo-jin (Kiwoom Heroes) also broke out four or five years later. After two or three years of healthy rotation, he will definitely get better. There will also be tips for catching hitters when things go wrong. Right now, I am completely power pitching, but with experience, (knack) will come.”
Director Choi Won-ho, who is holding the baton of Hanwha. Photo = Reporter Kim Young-gu
One of the other strengths of Moon Dong-ju, which the command tower thinks, is ‘sense of the hand’. Explaining this, director Choi also cited commentator Park Chan-ho, who was born in 1973, as an example. Commissioner Park is a legend who became the first Korean player to advance to the American professional baseball major league (MLB) during his active career and recorded 124 wins, 98 losses, 20 saves and 2 holds, and an average ERA of 4.36. He has also played in the Japanese professional baseball and KBO leagues.
Manager Choi Won-ho said, “Considering that (Moon Dong-ju) has only a short pitching experience and that he is a pitcher who throws a faster ball than average, the acquisition ability and (hand) sensation are evaluated as okay.” It often falls In a word, I can’t control (power). (Park) Chanho was like that too. He had good control until high school, but he went to college and threw to the back net (laughs). He recalled the past.
He continued, “Even when (Park Chan-ho) first went to the United States, it was not good that the restraint reached 160 km. However, as he gained experience, he was caught little by little. He went to the Asian Games in 1998 (Bangkok), and the ball was very good at that time. (Restriction) 155 km came out, but I was in control. It was to the point that Taiwanese hitters said it was like shooting a gun after the game. (Moon) Dong-ju will be much better if he (experiences) two or three more years. If he gains experience, I wonder if he will be among the best pitchers in Korea in his mid-20s.”