Kiwoom, the only foreign pitcher in the entire team
“I have high hopes for many opportunities to compete.
Senior Ahn Woo-jin, who will return in 2026,
“I dream of being active as a left and right one-two punch.”
“It seems like they are giving a lot of opportunities to rookies, so I think I should work harder and seize that opportunity.”
Professional baseball team Kiwoom received the first overall pick in the rookie draft this year for the first time since its founding (2008). Kiwoom, which had to put a lot of effort into nurturing players because it did not have a separate parent company, played that card on Deoksu High School left-handed pitcher Jeong Hyeon-woo (18).
Kiwoom also comprised one pitcher and two fielders as foreign players for next season. Kiwoom is the first professional baseball team to start the season with one foreign pitcher in a system of three foreign players. Jeong Hyun-woo is a promising player whom the club expects to grow even as they give up one foreign pitcher position, which is said to be ‘half of the team’s strength.’
“I’m going back and forth between anticipation and excitement,” said Jeong Hyeon-woo, whom I recently met at the Goyang National Team Baseball Training Center in Gyeonggi Province, the home stadium of the Kiwoom Futures League (2nd division). “I haven’t played all 144 games yet, so I’m not sure, but I’m confident.” .
Jeong Hyeon-woo, who repeated the phrase ‘I don’t know because I haven’t tried it yet’ throughout the interview, said, “I always think experience is the most important,” and added, “I usually spend a lot of time analyzing my strength. “Only when data accumulates can there be anything to analyze, so I hope to compete against many players in the pros as soon as possible,” he said.
During his time at Deoksu High School, Hyunwoo Jeong became known nationwide as a left-handed pitcher who threw a fastball at a speed of up to 152 km/h. In this year’s Golden Lion National High School Baseball Championship and Weekend League King of Kings, he pitched in three games, allowing one run in 11 1/3 innings and giving the team the championship. The tournament’s best pitcher award also went to Jeong Hyun-woo. Kiwoom is envisioning a future in which Jeong Hyun-woo and Ahn Woo-jin will play as a one-two punch on the left and right starting from the 2026 season when ‘local ace’ Ahn Woo-jin (25) returns from military service.
Kiwoom is not the only one who has high expectations for Jeong Hyun-woo. Many domestic baseball fans hope that Chung Hyun-woo will one day continue the lineage of the national team’s ‘left-handed ace’. Hyunwoo Jeong’s goals are not much different. Recalling the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 held last month, Hyun-Woo Jeong said, “I watched the broadcast while constantly thinking, ‘What would I have done if I was on the mound?’” and “I wanted to become the kind of left-handed pitcher who follows in the footsteps of seniors Hyun-Jin Ryu, Gwang-Hyun Kim, and Hyun-Jong Yang. “I want to,” he said.
Jeong Hyun-woo only emphasized, “It is a big goal, but right now I am only thinking about next year’s season, which is right in front of me.” Jeong Hyun-woo, who participated in the rookie camp held in Taiwan last month, rested for only three days after returning to Korea and is returning to work in Goyang five days a week. Hyunwoo Jeong said, “It’s been about three weeks since I started weight training in earnest. When I was a senior in high school, I rarely did weight training because I was worried that my flexibility would decrease. These days, I exercise until my whole body is fully covered, and then as soon as I feel relieved, I continue to increase the weight. “In the training part, they said I still have a ‘baby body’ and that there is potential for improvement, so I’m working harder,” he said.
It’s been three months since training with a professional team, and Jeong Hyeon-woo still finds everything amazing. Every time he does that, he harasses Yunha Kim (19), who was drafted in the first round a year before him. Hyunwoo Jeong said, “I was roommates with Younha during rookie camp. Because the exercise was so hard, I had no choice but to go to bed early, and while I was lying down, I asked my brother everything that came to mind. “I asked a lot of questions, and he said, ‘Don’t open your mouth 30 minutes before bed.’” He laughed, adding, “Now, a lot of my questions have been resolved, but I still have questions. “I’m the type of person who tries to prepare and think things through in advance, so I can’t help it,” he said. Kim Yun-ha is the niece of Park Chan-ho (51) of ‘The Korean Express’, who is considered a ‘too much talker’.
When Jeong Hyun-woo, who had so many questions, met Jeong-hoo Lee (26, San Francisco), a senior on the team who advanced to the Major League Baseball (MLB), he just listened in silence. Lee Jeong-hoo recently appeared as a special lecturer for the new players of his home team. When asked, ‘Don’t you have a lot to ask about MLB life?’ Jung Hyun-woo said, “I am a very realistic person. “First of all, my goal is to do well here (at Kiwoom) next year,” he said, adding, “Next year, I will make sure that none of the Kiwoom fans know my name.”
Then, he said, “During the rookie orientation training, I was motivated to see the change in body composition results (large increase in muscle mass) from Senior Lee Jeong-hoo’s rookie days and early this year,” and pledged, “I will work out harder and control my diet even more.” .
Goyang = Reporter Lim Bomi [email protected]
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