He suddenly became voluntary and took off his KIA uniform as a promising 1R player…I'm going to retire
Nov 21, 2025
|
KBO announced on the 21st that Park Gun-woo was arbitrarily appointed. Park Gun-woo expressed his intention to the club that he would retire, and the club applied to KBO for voluntary cancellation in respect of the player's will. Players who are arbitrarily dismissed can return to the KBO League after one year of disclosure, and to return, they must submit an application for return to the KBO president for permission.
Park Kun-woo graduated from Deoksu-Korea University and was nominated by KIA as the fourth overall pick in the second round of the 2021 Rookie Draft. Shortstop Kim Joo-won (NC Dinos), who was also mentioned as a candidate for the first nomination at the time, remained in KIA's turn, but KIA, which judged that the reinforcement of the pitcher was urgent rather than the infielder, nominated Park Gun-woo first.
KIA immediately classified Park Gun-woo, who was an ace during Korea University, as a powerhouse and signed a down payment of 130 million won. With a height of 193 centimeters and a weight of 96 kilograms, he has good physical conditions, throws a fast ball with a maximum speed of 148 kilometers on a soft pitching form, and has been evaluated as excellent in game management.
However, Park Kun-woo had a hard time when he came to the professional league due to the low speed of his ball control and the difficulty of controlling his ball. The maximum speed stayed in the early 140km range. In 2021, his first year as a professional player, he pitched in three first-team games and recorded two hits, one walk, and three strikeouts in three innings, and this was the last first-team performance. He has never taken the mound in the first division since 2022.
|
Contrary to expectations, the results were not good. Park Kun-woo had only 20 Futures League games, two losses, 27 ⅔ innings and an 8.13 ERA last year. a difficult performance to be called by the first team. The problem of ball control remained.
This year, he only had seven innings and an ERA of 15.43 in four games. He has not played in the Futures League since taking the mound against the NC Dinos' second division on July 25. As baseball has not been resolved as it has, it seems that the mind is leaning toward retirement.
This year marks Park's fifth year as a professional, but he received an annual salary of 31 million won. the lowest annual salary level. It was difficult to raise because there was no first-team performance. As he turned 27 this year because he is a college graduate, he seems to have made a decision after fully considering realistic issues.
|
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
