Hanwha manager Choi Won-ho said about Kang Jae-min ahead of the match against KIA in the “2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League” at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on the 21st, “Kang Jae-min has decided to undergo elbow surgery.”
Kang Jae-min was canceled from the first division entry on the 6th due to pain in his right elbow and is scheduled to undergo elbow ligament surgery on the 25th. After the surgery, he plans to proceed with initial rehabilitation and join the military. If you undergo elbow ligament conjugation surgery, so-called Tommy John surgery, you usually go through a rehabilitation period of more than a year. If Kang Jae-min undergoes surgery, it is highly likely that he will not be included in the team next year anyway. Therefore, it can be viewed as a movement to solve military problems at the same time as surgery.
Choi Won-ho said, “I tried to drag him to the end of the season as much as possible, but I decided to have surgery in the end. Kang Jae-min will undergo surgery and prepare to join the military, he said. “It is difficult to go to the military right away because I have to undergo surgery and undergo initial rehabilitation.” Therefore, it is not yet known when Kang Jae-min will join the army. It is also expected that the decision on whether to join the active military will be made through a re-examination after surgery.
Kang Jae-min marks his fourth year as a professional. Kang Jae-min, who joined Hanwha in 2020, started to stand out with one win, two losses, one save and 14 hold ERA of 2.57 as he pitched 49 innings in 50 games from his first professional debut season.
In 2021, he pitched in 58 games and played 63 ⅓ innings, showing off his prowess in the special must-win group with two wins, one loss and five saves and 13 holds average ERA of 2.13. At that time, he was mentioned as a candidate for the national team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but his dream of joining the national team was not achieved. When Kang Jae-min was eliminated, there was a lot of public opinion in various Internet baseball communities, saying, “Why wasn’t Kang Jae-min chosen?”
Last year, Kang Jae-min, who pitched 51 ⅓ innings in 56 games with 4 wins, 8 losses, 7 saves, and a 4.21 ERA, pitched in 43 games this year and played 43 ⅓ innings, showing a sluggish performance with a 6.44 ERA of 1 win, 3 losses and 12 holds. The aftermath of elbow pain also affected the sluggishness of this season. This year, he tried to join the national team at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, but the situation was not easy. 스포츠토토
As a result, Hanwha immediately faced the task of securing new resources to fill Kang Jae-min’s injury gap next year. Currently, Hanwha is using Kim Bum-soo and Joo Hyun-sang as must-win cards, with Park Sang-won positioned as a closer, and right-hander Lee Min-woo has recently transformed into a relief pitcher who throws short innings rather than an existing starter or long relief.
Hanwha will play the rest of the season with Kang Jae-min out of the season. Hanwha, which is currently ranked eighth with 51 wins, 67 losses, and 6 draws (winning rate of .432), is trailing Lotte in seventh place by 4.5 games. Hanwha, which will play against sixth-ranked KIA on the day, formed a starting lineup with Lee Jin-young (center fielder), Choi In-ho (left fielder), Noh Si-hwan (third baseman), Nick Williams (designated hitter), Chae Eun-sung (first baseman), Kim Tae-yeon (right fielder), Moon Hyun-bin (second baseman), Lee Do-yoon (striker) and Choi Jae-hoon (catcher).
