He gave up the left-hander starter who had high expectations for the next Kim Kwang-hyun. He was a pitcher with sufficient potential to rebound, but SSG Landers was satisfied with his team's victory. Thanks to a substitute named Kim Gun-woo (23), he was able to make a bold decision.메이저사이트

Kim Gun-woo pitched as the second pitcher in the top of the fourth inning in the home game of the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League against the Lotte Giants at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 27th, throwing 65 pitches in four ⅓ innings without a hit, making a perfect pitch with two outs and seven strikeouts.

The team came from behind with three points in the bottom of the seventh inning and then kept the lead, and Kim Gun-woo finally won his first impressive victory in his fifth season since joining in 2021.

Ahead of this season, SSG was agonizing over starting pitcher. It gave up left-handed pitcher Oh Won-seok (24), who was brought in by the SK Wyverns as the first choice in 2020 and consistently used as the starting pitcher, to KT in a trade, and had to fill the vacancy of the starting pitcher.

Oh was a player who had 28 wins (34 losses) during five seasons at SSG. He lacked 2 percent of his ball control and other difficulties, but he had sufficient potential, which was regrettable.

However, the team apparently had enough confidence. SSG placed Jung Dong-yoon and Kim Geon-woo in a competition to become the fifth starting pitcher along with Song Young-jin and Park Jong-hoon, who already had experience as starting pitchers. Two spots were vacant due to foreign pitcher Mitch White's injury, and all four of them were satisfied with Lee's performance in the spring camp, but it was Song Young-jin and Park Jong-hoon who got the chance ahead of the opening of the season.

Kim Geon-woo also showed his strength. In his two exhibition games, he clearly showed impressive performance by allowing six strikeouts and one run during seven innings, and Lee expressed his commitment to make use of the ball as "one plus one" after starting pitchers four and five. This indicates how good the ball was, and that he will make more active use of it.

In the opening game, first starter Drew Anderson was pulled out early and took the opportunity to take the mound in the fifth inning, but he failed to catch any outcount, gave up two walks, and was pulled out and even allowed a run due to a hit by a follow-up hitter.

Five days have passed and he got another chance. Park Jong-hoon, who got a chance to take the mound first as a fifth starter, was substituted before completing the fourth inning. Kim Geon-woo, who took the mound in relief at the top of the fourth inning with two outs and a runner on the first base, started the game nervously by allowing a straight walk to his first batter, Yoon Dong-hee. However, since then, an incredible struggle has unfolded.

Kim took a breather by striking out swinging through a high-fast ball through a bold fastball match against Jung Hoon, and ended the game with three outs in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings. He did not allow a single hit.

His strikeout instinct stood out. He threw 47 fastballs with a maximum speed of 148 kilometers per hour, and 16 changeups with a difference of more than 10 kilometers. His slider was two-pitch style, but he had strong power to overwhelm Lotte batters.

After quickly counting with aggressive pitches, he drew a swing and miss with a low-falling change-up and high-fast ball, and also struck out a rookie with a caught-off-the-wall match.

He also displayed impressive performance against Reyes, who played after giving a pitch to Na Seung-yeop, the first batter, at the top of the eighth inning. The opponent was the star of the most hits in a single KBO league season, but he was not intimidated. With his first pitch thrown in the middle, Kim focused on the ball count 3-1, but insisted on playing fastball from the beginning to the end, inducing double play. For the last batter, Jeon Jun-woo, he finished the day's pitch by striking out the seventh with a low changeup after counting with a fastball.

Coincidentally, Oh Won-seok, who started KT on the same day, threw 92 pitches in five innings against Doosan to win his first victory since the transfer with two hits, six outs and three outs, but SSG was also able to smile with Kim Gun-woo's perfect pitching, which he did not feel sorry for.

Kim Geon-woo, who joined the team as the last first-round pick of SK in 2021, underwent elbow surgery, served as a member of the Armed Forces athletic unit, and returned to the team in September last year. Prior to this season, he only played in eight matches and 14 innings in the first division.

SSG, however, had strong faith in the team. The team consistently gave the team opportunities since the spring camp, and confirmed the results on the day. "Congratulations to (Kim) Gunwoo on his first career win. It was a great performance to repay his trust," Lee said after the game. "I was a little shaken at the beginning, but it was a perfect pitching by garnering seven strikeouts without hitting a hit."

Kim Gun-woo, who met with reporters after the game, said, "I still can't believe my first win. "I haven't won in my professional career for five years," he said, "When I went up to the mound, I didn't think of that at all, and I think I made a good pitch because I thought I should lead the team to win somehow and never give over the atmosphere."

The disappointment of the opening game was a stimulus to Kim. "I was disappointed in myself that day. I was so nervous that I didn't get a good pitch and I wanted to make up for it quickly. I feel so good."

Rather, putting down the idea of carrying everything on the mound made Kim Gun-woo fly. "Before that, I tried to strike out everything from 1 to 100 pitches so that I wouldn't get hit by a batter, but now I don't think about that at all, and if I get hit by a batter's bat in one pitch, I'm trying to throw the ball to the catcher's mit as much as possible to catch it in time," Kim Gun-woo said.

Even in chilly weather, he couldn't let go of the joy of his first win. His teammates even gave him water and flour thunderbolt, but Kim felt nothing but joy. Kim Gun-woo, who was interviewed soaked, said, "I feel so good. I can't hear because there's a lot of flour in it, but it's really good," adding, "It seems like it took a long time (to win), but I'll work harder because I'm going to build more in the future."

Did he feel his son's first win? His parents visited the stadium.