LG Twins rookie sidearm Myung-geun Park is taking a longer-than-expected summer vacation. Although there are no major injuries, the coaching staff believes he needs a long break to prepare for the second half of the season.

Prior to the 10th game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the Lotte Giants at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on April 8, LG removed Park from the roster and designated left-hander Cho Won-tae for assignment.

The move to remove Park from the roster was expected. LG manager Yoon Kyung-yeop announced his intention to give Park a break until the All-Star break after the rainout against Lotte the day before.

Park had been one of LG’s biggest hits in the first half of the season. When he joined the organization with the 27th overall pick in the third round of last year’s rookie draft, he was just a promising sidearm fireballer, but in his first year, he went from being an “instant powerhouse” to a “must-have”.

In 36 games and 36 innings, Park went 4-4 with five saves and a 3.25 ERA in five relief appearances. LG lost closer Ko Woo-seok to injury twice, and the rest of the bullpen, including Jung Woo-young and Lee Jung-yong, struggled, but Park’s stellar pitching contributed significantly to the team’s lead 메이저사이트.

However, we won’t be seeing Park on the mound for the foreseeable future. Manager Yoon Kyung-yeop has kept Park out of his plans for the final three games of the first half against the Hanwha Eagles on Nov. 11-13, as well as the first three games of the second half against the second-place SSG Landers. He also announced that he will exclude Park Myung-geun from the manager’s recommendation for the All-Star Game on April 15.

Coach Yoon Kyung-yeop said, “I think Park Myung-geun needs to take a long break. Even if he doesn’t take the whole month of July off, I’m going to give him about a week more rest after the start of the second half.” “It’s important for him to go all the way to the end of the season. He’s had a little bit of pain in his elbow since high school, so we don’t want him to need surgery.”

For LG, it’s important to harvest as many wins as possible in the final stretch of the first half, but manager Yoon Kyung-yup is more focused on managing Park Myung-geun for now.

LG practically had a “bullpen day” against Lotte on April 9, as starter Lee Jung-yong’s pitch limit was set at 70 pitches. With Lee struggling with six runs in three innings, having Park on the mound could have made a big difference, but the LG coaching staff was thinking a little further ahead. As soon as they removed Park from the roster, they sent him up to Seoul to rest.

In the second half of the season, with the return of Yoo Young-chan and Baek Seung-hyun, who are currently sidelined with injuries, the team hopes that the pressure on Park will be lessened.

“The most important thing is to maintain his current condition,” said Yeom Kyung-yeop, who hasn’t had a hospital checkup yet, but has all the medical data from when he joined the club. It is the role of the coaching staff to ensure that the player can play for a long time without surgery.”