Moon Dong-joo (23) of the Hanwha Eagles in the professional baseball league has yet to sign an annual salary contract for this year. He left for Arizona for individual training late last year, and plans to return to Korea in the middle of this month to sit at the negotiation table.
Last year, Moon’s annual salary was 33 million won (30,037 U.S. dollars). His annual salary increased by 3 million won (27,940 dollars) from his basic salary (30 million won) in the first year of joining the team. Due to the aftermath of his injury in 2022, he played 28 2/3 innings in 13 games, which was not a big increase. 메이저 토토사이트
This year is different. In his second year last year, he played full-time in good health. While solidly holding onto his spot in the starting rotation, he played 23 games and pitched 118 1/3 innings. His performance was eight wins and eight losses, an earned run average of 3.72, and 95 strikeouts. He ranks first in pitchers’ performance in his team.
He also achieved “premium” performance. He became the first rookie award from Hanwha in 17 years since Ryu Hyun-jin in 2006. He became the first Korean pitcher to throw fastballs with speeds of over 160 kilometers per hour. At the Hangzhou Asian Games, he was the ace skater for the Korean national team and won the gold medal. Two years after joining the team, he has established himself as a clear “treasure” for Hanwha.
In the last five years, all the Rookie of the Year trophies have been pitchers. Jung Woo-young (LG Twins) in 2019, So Hyung-joon (KT Wiz) in 2020, Lee Eui-ri (KIA Tigers) in 2021, Jeong Cheol-won (Doosan Bears) in 2022, and Moon Dong-ju last year took the Rookie of the Year trophies one after another. So Hyung-joon, Lee Eui-ri and Moon Dong-ju are the starting pitchers, while Jung Woo-young and Jeong Cheol-won are the bullpen pitchers.
Moon’s salary this year may be measured by the next season’s salary for the “Best Pitcher Rookie.” Among them, So Hyung-joon was the one with the highest annual salary increase. He signed 140 million won, a 419 percent increase from the minimum salary of 27 million won (increased to 30 million won from 2021). A pure high school graduate has recorded 13 wins and 6 losses with a 3.86 ERA, breaking the record for the second-year high school graduate. Lee’s salary went up from 30 million won to 90 million won. When he won the Rookie of the Year award, he recorded four wins and five losses with a 3.61 ERA in 19 games.
As a setup man, Jung won four games, lost three, held three saves and earned run average (ERA) of 3.10 in 58 games in 2022. His annual salary also jumped instantly from 30 million won (30,000 U.S. dollars) to 100 million won (100,000 dollars). Moon’s annual salary is highly likely to be determined between So Hyung-joon and Jung this year.
Since late last month, Moon has been conducting his personal training at a baseball clinic called “Push Performance.” This is the place where Eric Peddy (Chicago White Sox), the most valuable player in the KBO League, introduced him as having received “a great help.” “I decided to train in the U.S. with my own money because I wanted to show better performance next season,” Moon said before leaving the country.
