LG Twins manager Yoon Kyung-yeop has selected Kim Yoon-sik to replace the injured Adam Plutko. He also named SMS Lee Min-ho and Kang Hyo-jong as alternates.
“Kim Yun-sik has been working hard all season to fill the void left by Plutko,” Yeom said ahead of the team’s game against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on March 30. “He’s a player who will fill the void left by Plutko. If he can do his job, we can play comfortably, and if he can’t, we’ll have to use the bullpen early like we did at the beginning of the season.”
Plutko was removed from his start against the NC Dinos on April 26 after pitching four innings. He was diagnosed with a left pelvic contusion and is expected to miss the final four to five weeks of the season.
LG paid special attention to Plutko’s health in the second half. Before the SSG Landers game on the 20th, manager Yoon Kyung-yeop said, “I was going to give Plutko a break, but he got COVID-19 and had to take a break.” “We had five weeks off due to the All-Star break, corona, and the cancellation of rainy games, so there is no problem for him to play all the games in the second half,” he said.
This is to avoid a repeat of last season’s nightmare. After a dominant 15-5 record with a 2.39 ERA in 28 games from the start of the season, Plutko was pulled from the game against SSG on Sept. 25 last year after facing just one batter due to biliousness and did not return for the rest of the regular season.
He then appeared in the second round of the playoffs against the Kiwoom Heroes on October 25, but was shut down in one and two-thirds innings, giving up six runs on eight hits and four earned runs. From that point on, LG lost three straight games, ending their chances of advancing to the Korean Series.
The loss of their foreign ace has created a sense of crisis for the top-ranked team. Choi Won-tae, who was transferred from Kiwoom, has struggled this month with a 1-2 record and a 9.00 ERA in four games. He collapsed against the NC on May 25, giving up 11 runs (9 earned) in 4 innings. Lim Chan-kyu won four games in August, but his ERA was high at 4.79 and he was ejected from the game on the 27th without recording a single out after being hit in the head by an opposing batter.메이저놀이터
Plutko will be replaced by Kim Yun-sik, who went 3-4 with a 5.29 ERA in his first 11 starts of the season. If Kim struggles, Lee Min-ho and Kang Hyo-jong will take turns in the rotation. “Our bats haven’t been hitting well in August, so we need to have an edge in the starting battle,” said Yoon. “If Kim Yun-sik does well, he will continue to start. We will use Son Joo-young in the second game of the doubleheader on the 9th of next month.”