A 42-year-old veteran who didn't give up despite the pain of "release" even training abroad with his own money, "I'll show you a villain!"

A 42-year-old veteran who didn't give up despite the pain of "release" even training abroad with his own money, "I'll show you a villain!"

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Doosan Bears officially announced on the 17th, "We signed a total of 100 million won (80 million won per year, 20 million won in incentives) with pitcher Ko Hyo-joon."

Doosan is currently in a very unstable situation in bullpen sessions. Last year, the team used Jeong Cheol-won, a "new king" player, as a trade card as it built a must-win group consisting of Choi Ji-gang, Lee Byung-hun, and Kim Taek-yeon, but faced numerous negative factors ahead of this season. Kwak Bin suffered a string of injuries in the starting lineup, including Hong Gun-hee, Choi Ji-gang and Lee Byung-hun, who are the core resources of the bullpen.먹튀검증

Doosan first converted Choi Won-joon's position, which was originally scheduled to be used as a bullpen pitcher, to start to fill the gap in starter Kwak Bin, which made the bullpen's depth loose. Choi Ji-gang returned to the first-team mound through the Hanwha Eagles match on the 8th, but it still needs time for Hong Gun-hee to return. Lee Byung-hun also returned to the first team around the same time as Choi Ji-gang, but suffered from difficulties after returning to the second team again.

Against this backdrop, Doosan faced a situation where it had no choice but to rely on several players and was embroiled in a controversy over its "four consecutive games." Doosan then embraced Go Hyo-joon to strengthen its bullpen session. "Ko is a veteran with 23 years of experience. I thought he would contribute to the bullpen session," a Doosan official said. "Even though he built himself up, he maintained the speed in the mid-140km range. He also complied with the breaking ball control and tracking data. There will be many uses in the bullpen," he said.

 

Ko Hyo-joon, who was nominated by the Lotte Giants as the sixth overall pick in the second round of the rookie draft in 2002, pitched in 601 games in 20 seasons with the SK Wyverns, KIA Tigers, Lotte, and LG Twins SSG Landers, recording 47 wins, 54 losses, 56 saves, and a 5.27 ERA. However, his career almost ended this year. He played brilliantly in 2022-2023, but last year he had his worst season with 2-1 losses and 5 holds with an 8.18 ERA in 26 games, and was finally notified of his release by SSG after the season ended.

However, Ko Hyo-joon did not let go of the baseball. Despite his invincible status, Ko Hyo-joon somehow tried to continue his active career by leaving for Thailand alone and building himself in a warm place, and was contacted by Doosan, whose bullpen collapsed. And despite being 42, he showed competitiveness by marking up to 147km during the test period, and then he will wear Doosan's uniform through a contract worth a total of 100 million won on the 17th.

How did he prepare for this season after saying goodbye to SSG? "I was constantly training. I went to Thailand during the off-season. I didn't let go of the ball. I thought I had to spend my own money to build up in a warm place. I threw balls in a warm place, and prepared by weight-lifting and running. I also spent my time pitching at an academy when I was resting," Koh said.

Although he could not find an offseason team, Ko did not give up for this moment. He said, "Actually, if I didn't get a call by May, I thought, 'I could let go of baseball.' But Doosan called me first. I felt that when I got a call. However, since the bullpen was such a good team until last year, I wondered when I got in touch, but he gave me this opportunity again, and I think we can win each other because the bullpen is in a difficult situation," he said.

"How are your physical conditions, speed and ball power?" Koh said. "I played the game when testing, and the speed reached 147 kilometers at that time. And the slider was in the latter half of 130 kilometers. The power analysis team and the coaching staff were satisfied with the performance of slider, curveball, and folk ball," Koh said. "However, I am not in 100 percent condition right now. I am 7-80 percent, but if I regain my sense of play after exercising more, I think I will have more speed when I join the top team."

In fact, Ko is determined to pour everything out of Doosan since he is still a fairly old player. The veteran said, "The nickname Ko used to follow was 'a player who always tries hard'. I will not talk too much about the rest. It is right to show you the results," adding, "I will try to show you the bad guys. Now I will try to think that I am a player who supports evil."

Finally, Ko Hyo-joon said, "I sincerely thank Doosan for giving me the opportunity to extend my active duty. I will do my best to burn the last flame in Doosan's uniform."