Choi Won-tae (27) of the LG Twins collapsed with five runs in the first round of the playoffs (PO, best-of-five) with the Samsung Lions, allowing two home runs.
Choi Won-tae started in the first round of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO postseason playoff against Samsung at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 13th, and was replaced early without completing the fourth inning with seven hits (two home runs) and three strikeouts and five runs (five earned runs) in three innings.
On the day, Choi threw 50 pitches while facing a total of 16 batters. He mixed 12 fastballs, 11 cutters and curves, nine two-seam, and seven change-ups, but was only attacked by Samsung batters. The maximum speed of fastball and two-seam was 147 kilometers. Out of the 50 pitches, Choi had 36 strikes.
LG fans have high expectations for Choi Won-tae, the “pre-agent free agent.” Choi pitched in 24 games this season, posting nine wins, seven losses and an ERA of 4.26. While pitching 126 ⅔ innings, he posted 126 hits (10 homeruns), 57 walks, 103 strikeouts and 66 runs (60 earned runs) with WHIP (per-inning allowance) of 1.44 and a batting average of 0.263. He pitched 100 times of quality starts (less than three earned runs in six innings as a starter).
Notably, he showed strong performance against Samsung during this year’s regular season. As a result, it was doubly disappointing for LG fans. Choi played in two matches against Samsung during this year’s regular season, recording one win, no loss, and an ERA of 0.84. During a total of 10 ⅔ innings, he posted six strikeouts and two runs (one earned run) on balls, which were hit by five hits, seven walks and one body.
“In any case, (Choi) Won-tae is a player who has ups and downs when he is in a pennant race and in a bad time,” LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop told a news conference ahead of the match. “I hope he gets scratched as much as the match against Samsung, so I look forward to that today as well. I hope he gets scratched again today, and there is a high probability that he will.” Choi, along with Eom Sang-baek, is considered one of the biggest pitchers in the winter transfer market. However, Choi failed to live up to his belief.
Choi took the mound in the bottom of the first inning when the two teams were tying 0-0. Choi gave a good start by striking out leadoff hitter Kim Ji-chan on the fifth pitch. However, he faced a crisis of losing a point by allowing Yoon Jeong-bin to hit a double that fell inside the right-field line. Koo Ja-wook’s infield hit deep into the second baseman position, with one out and runners on the first and third bases, and Diaz hit a sacrifice fly RBI against Choi. However, Choi grounded out Park Byung-ho to the second base to end the first inning without allowing any additional runs.
In the second inning, Choi gave a fly ball to the right field to leadoff hitter Kang Min-ho, and struck out Kim Young-woong for the fourth time. He threw a three-ball against Lee Jae-hyun, and allowed a hit to the right field for the seventh time after a close game of full count. However, he marked Ryu Ji-hyuk as a strikeout, not out, and deleted the second inning.
However, Choi gave up a big single in the third inning and ended up collapsing. Choi gave up a hit to the right field after being hit on the first pitch by leadoff hitter Kim Ji-chan. The next batter is Koo Ja-wook. Here, Koo hit a cutter (138 kilometers), the third highest at the ball count of 1-1, to cut a three-run shot over the right-center fence. The score widened to 4-0.
Still, the LG bench did not remove Choi Won-tae from the mound. He threw a fly ball to the center field, Park Byung-ho to the third baseman, and Kang Min-ho to the third baseman, respectively, to wrap up the third inning.
In the end, 꽁머니 failed to overcome the crisis in the fourth inning. His team recovered a point with a solo shot in the top of the fourth inning. However, as soon as Choi took the mound in the fourth inning, he gave up a solo shot to leadoff batter Kim Young-woong to cross the right fence. He was hit with a change-up shot (126 kilometers) on the fourth pitch with the ball count 1-2. The flying distance was 110 meters. Choi concluded his pitch on the day by handing over the mound to Yoo Young-chan.
Choi Won-tae left the Kiwoom Heroes in July last year through a “3:1 trade” and joined the LG Twins uniform. At that time, he was the winning contractor that LG brought to Kiwoom at the risk of losing Lee Ju-hyung, pitcher Kim Dong-gyu, and the first-round rookie nomination right in 2024. However, Choi was particularly weak in autumn baseball. He had a record of 10.64 ERA with one loss, one save and three holds (22 innings, 35 hits, four homers, 12 walks, 29 runs and 26 earned runs) in 16 postseason games before this game. In the third game of the semi-playoff against the KT Wiz on the 8th, he left the mound early by allowing three runs (two earned runs) in two ⅔ innings. He also failed to overcome the terrible fall baseball jinx on the day before leaving the mound.