SSG Landers sixth-year right-hander Cho Sung-hoon (24) showed promise in his first first-team appearance in five years.
He started the fifth game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Stadium on Tuesday and pitched four innings of five-hit ball with two strikeouts and no walks.
Cho Sung-hoon was highly anticipated before the game. Manager Kim Won-hyung said, “I don’t ask him to throw a no-hitter. You can give up one or two runs.” “The first inning is important for the substitutes. I want them to do what they’ve been doing in the second team.”
Cho Sung-hoon’s pitching went beyond expectations. In the second team, he threw his fastball up to 152-3 kilometers and was praised for his “fast arm swing and deception motion, which makes the batter feel faster.”
However, it was his first first-team start in a long time, so he must have been quite nervous. His only previous first-team appearance was against Doosan on October 11, 2018, when he joined the professional ranks.
In that game, he gave up two runs in ⅔ of an inning against Doosan. It was his first appearance on the mound in 1713 days.
In the Futures League this year, Cho was 2-1 with a 4.18 ERA in nine games. “The first inning is important,” Kim said, and after giving up a leadoff single to Jung Soo-bin, he induced Kim Jae-hwan to ground into a double play in front of the third baseman to erase the tying run. He then got Kang Seung-ho to fly out to right field to end the inning.
In the second inning, Cho Sung-hoon gave up a single to left to Yang Ji and plated Hong Seong-ho on a foul fly to third. He then gave up a single to Heo Kyung-min and a walk to Kim Dae-hyun, putting runners on the corners, but he struck out Kim Jae-ho on a foul fly to first base and Lee Yoo-chan to get out of the inning unscathed.
In the third inning, he gave up a walk to Kim Jae-hwan, but got Kang Seung-ho to fly out to center and Yang Yang-ji to fly out to left. In the fourth inning, he gave up an infield single to the first batter, Hong Seong-ho, but got Heo Kyung-min to fly out to left and Kim Dae-woo to strike out.
After giving up a single up the middle to Kim Jae-ho, Lee Yoo-chan stole second and Hong Seong-ho stole third, but Jeon Eui-san accurately threw to the first baseman and Kim Min-sik tagged Hong Seong-ho first to end the inning. That was it for Cho Sung-hoon.메이저놀이터
Cho Sung-hoon came in as a substitute starter for neither Park Jong-hoon nor Baek Seung-gun, but he pitched well enough to warrant another chance.
Meanwhile, SSG won 6-1 in the 10th inning of a 1-1 game thanks to Choi Jeong-jeong’s grand slam and Park Sung-ho’s solo shot.