Professional baseball Kiwoom Heroes' Yun Hyun (19) will take the mound as the starting pitcher instead of Jung Hyun-woo (19).

Kiwoom announced Yun Hyun as the starting pitcher for the match against Doosan Bears in the '2025 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League' to be held at Seoul's Jamsil Stadium on the 2nd.

Initially, Jung Hyun-woo was scheduled to be the starting pitcher for this game according to the rotation. Kiwoom announced Jung Hyun-woo as the starting pitcher on the 1st, but the match on the 1st was canceled to mourn the victims of the accident at Changwon NC Park, and Kiwoom decided to give Jung Hyun-woo additional rest instead of using him as the starting pitcher on the 2nd, bringing out the 5th starter Yun Hyun.

Jung Hyun-woo is a rookie left-handed pitcher who joined Kiwoom as the first-round (1st pick) selection in the 2025 rookie draft. He was expected to grow into an ace representing the league and proved he could perform immediately in the first team, recording 2 wins and an earned run average of 0.82 in 3 exhibition games (11 innings).

Identified as the 4th starter, Jung Hyun-woo made his much-anticipated debut against KIA on the 26th of last month. However, the first professional stage was by no means easy. Jung Hyun-woo struggled against KIA's strong batting lineup, managing only 5 innings with 8 hits allowed, 7 walks, 4 strikeouts, and 6 earned runs. Nevertheless, despite the poor pitching performance, with support from the lineup, he became the winning pitcher, achieving the 12th debut victory for a high school graduate rookie in KBO League history.

Although he achieved a historic record, Jung Hyun-woo found himself at the center of controversy following his debut victory. He threw a remarkable 122 pitches in the debut game. This is the second-highest pitch count for a debut game among high school graduate pitchers in history. Of course, there were special circumstances. As the score gap widened considerably before the 5th inning, the likelihood of him becoming the winning pitcher increased, and he pitched the 5th inning but ended up throwing 122 pitches due to prolonged defensive plays. Ultimately, the team won and Jung Hyun-woo achieved a debut victory that will remain a record, but criticisms were raised about the excessive pitch count for a rookie pitcher.

Kiwoom manager Hong Won-ki noted in an interview on the 30th of last month, “As far as I know, Jung Hyun-woo's physical condition and fitness are normal. I definitely plan to control the pitch count on Tuesday. There may be other plans afterward, but there will definitely be measures to manage his condition.”

Moreover, with the cancellation of the match on the 1st, Jung Hyun-woo ended up taking one more rest before his next appearance. Kiwoom, which announced Yun Hyun as the starting pitcher on the 2nd instead of Jung Hyun-woo, stated, “We decided to provide Jung Hyun-woo with one more rest. There are no issues with Jung Hyun-woo's physical condition, and there will be no changes to the roster.”

Yun Hyun, who will take the mound as the starting pitcher instead of Jung Hyun-woo, is also a rookie right-handed pitcher who debuted this year. He joined Kiwoom as a fourth-round (31st pick) selection in the 2025 rookie draft. Although he wasn't much noticed at the time of joining, overshadowed by Jung Hyun-woo, he showcased outstanding pitching in exhibition games, recording 1 hold and an earned run average of 0.00 in 2 games (6 innings), earning a spot as the 5th starter.

Yun Hyun, who made his debut against KIA on the 27th of last month, recorded 5 innings with 3 hits allowed, 5 walks, 1 hit by pitch, 2 strikeouts, and 1 earned run. Although he issued many walks, he minimized the runs allowed. Thanks to Yun Hyun's performance, Kiwoom managed to defeat last year's Korean Series champion KIA 5-3, clinching a winning series.

With Yun Hyun showing impressive pitching in his debut, there is great anticipation among fans regarding what he will show in his second appearance of the season, and also what kind of pitching Jung Hyun-woo will showcase in his next game after taking ample rest.

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