The swing was better than it was last year.
Hanwha Eagles ‘fireballer’ Moon Dong-ju (22) reached a speed of 159.7 km/h with his fastball, which made coach Kim Kyung-moon smile.
Coach Kim Kyung-moon praised Moon Dong-ju, who left a strong impression in the last game, saying, “It was good. I told him not to expect too much, but his arm swing was better than it was last year,” ahead of the exhibition game against the Lotte Giants in the 2025 KBO league on the 13th at Sajik Stadium in Busan.
After ending his season early due to shoulder pain in early September last year, Moon Dong-ju began rehabilitation. He gradually increased his pace during spring training without overdoing it. He managed his condition as much as possible to prevent any recurrence of pain and made plans early on to build up his pitching count as a reliever rather than as a starter at the beginning of the season.
Moon Dong-ju went through bullpen pitching and entered live pitching on the last day of the spring camp in Okinawa, Japan. He made his first real game appearance in the exhibition game against the SSG Landers on the 11th. As interest grew in him after about six months since his last game against the Doosan Bears on September 3, Kim Kyung-moon told the press before the game that day, “Don’t expect too much,” trying to lessen the pressure on him.
However, Moon Dong-ju surprised everyone by hitting a maximum speed of 159.7 km/h. He threw 19 pitches in one inning, allowing only one walk without giving up a hit while recording two strikeouts for a scoreless performance.
Hitting a maximum speed of 159.7 km/h and averaging 157 km/h with his fastball, he proved there were no issues with his shoulder. Besides achieving an average speed of 157 km/h with eight fastballs, he also mixed five different pitches, including sliders (four), curves, forks (three each), and a two-seam (one), overwhelming SSG batters. Notably, against the last batter, Park Ji-hwan, he threw three breaking balls—slider, curve, and slider—to register a looking Samjin strikeout.
Coach Kim focused on Moon Dong-ju’s smoother arm swing, saying, “We’ve observed high speeds for him for a while, but the other day his arm swing was better than I expected. It was better than when he was good at the end of last year. It was nearly the best I’ve seen. I was pleased on one hand,” he smiled.
Moon Dong-ju will rest for two days until the 13th and will make his second appearance against Lotte on the 14th. Coach Kim said regarding the innings and pitch count, “I can’t say anything right now. If I say it in advance, it will be hard for Dong-ju. I will let him know after he talks with pitching coach Yang Sang-moon and they make a definite plan,” trying to avoid putting pressure on the player.
Hanwha began exhibition games with two consecutive losses against the Doosan Bears on the 8th and 9th but successfully turned the atmosphere around with two consecutive victories against the SSG Landers on the 10th and 11th. The games were also quite good in content, with victories of 3-1 and 8-0. Especially in the game on the 11th, the batting lineup, including fourth hitter Noh Si-hwan’s double and home run, burst out with a total of 12 hits.
Coach Kim expressed satisfaction about Noh Si-hwan’s long hits, stating, “It’s good that good balls came out at good timing, regardless of the home run. Others need to hit too, but if the hitters do their part, the chances of scoring will increase comfortably.”
Meanwhile, Hanwha’s ace Ryu Hyun-jin will start against Lotte that day. This will be his first real-game appearance in 11 days since a practice game with SSG on the 2nd in Okinawa, Japan. Coach Kim said about Ryu’s pitch count, “I’m thinking about around 65 to 70 pitches.”
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