Professional baseball SSG Landers foreign pitcher Mitch White (31) returned home early after feeling discomfort in his hamstring during training.
SSG announced on the 28th that before the practice game against KT Wiz held at the Kusugawa Stadium in Okinawa, Japan, "Mitch White experienced discomfort in his right hamstring during training yesterday and will return to the country today for a check-up." This is the first time that a player has returned home early due to injury during the SSG spring camp.
White is a right-handed pitcher who has recorded 4 wins, 12 losses, and an earned run average of 5.25 over a total of 71 major league games (185 innings). As a Korean-American player, he was also mentioned as a candidate for the South Korean national team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and he is well known to Korean fans for resembling "Korean Express" Chan-ho Park. He joined the KBO League this season by signing a one-year, $1 million (approximately 1.5 billion won) contract with SSG.
White raised his physical condition through bullpen pitching at the first training camp in Florida and also completed live pitching at the second camp in Okinawa. He increased his velocity to over 150 km/h and was smoothly preparing for the season's opening.
White had only one last practice game appearance remaining. He was scheduled to start in the practice game against LG on March 4, but due to an unexpected injury, his early return has disrupted his season preparations.
SSG planned to include Drew Anderson, Mitch White, Kwang-hyun Kim, and Seung-won Moon in the starting rotation this season. Several pitchers, including Young-jin Song, Jong-hoon Park, Dong-yoon Jung, and Geon-woo Kim are competing for the remaining spot. With White's sudden injury, one of the pitchers competing for the fifth starter spot may have a chance early in the season.
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