Professional baseball Samsung Lions pitcher Won Tae-in (24) cheered for pitcher Choi Chae-heung (29), who moved to the LG Twins as an FA compensation player. 메이저놀이터

Choi Chae-heung graduated from Daegu Sangwon-Hanyang University and joined Samsung with the first nomination in 2018. Won Tae-in graduated from Kyungpook National High School and joined Samsung with the first nomination in 2019. He joined the team with the first nomination. 

Next year, however, Samsung will meet Choi as a rival team. Samsung has acquired Choi Won-tae as a four-year contract worth up to 7 billion won (2.4 billion won in down payment, 3.4 billion won in salary, and 1.2 billion won in incentives).

On the 13th, Choi Won-tae's original team LG decided to appoint Choi Chae-heung as a compensation player other than the protected player (20 players) and receive 200% (800 million won) in compensation for Choi Won-tae (400 million won per year), a grade A player.

On his way to attend the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO Golden Glove Awards held at the COEX Auditorium in Samseong-dong, Seoul on Tuesday, he heard the news of Choi Chae-heung's nomination as a reward player. Won received the Fair Player Award. 

Won Tae-in, who attended the ceremony, expressed regret and support, saying, "I feel sad because I was a pitcher who constantly rotated the starting rotation with me. I also hope that I can do well at LG."

Won Tae-in said, "(Choi) Chae-heung was a good stimulus to me. Back in 2020, Chae-heung was a native ace, and I worked harder to catch up to him. That's why I was able to grow. I hope he does well at LG as well." Since Won competed and tried hard against a good stimulus called Choi Chae-heung when he was young, he became the multiple wins king this year. 

Choi stood out first. In 2020, Choi pitched in 26 games (146 innings), recording 11 wins, 6 losses and an ERA of 3.58. At the time, Choi was the No. 1 native pitcher in the league dominated by foreign pitchers. He was eighth overall. In his second year since debut, Won has rotated as a full-time starter for the first time, and posted 6 wins and 10 losses and an ERA of 4.89 in 27 games (140 innings).

Since 2020, Choi and Won have taken opposite paths. Won has emerged as the ace pitcher of Samsung with 14 wins, 7 losses and an ERA of 3.06 in 2021. He has maintained the ERA in the 3-point range for four consecutive years so far this year, and tied for the top overall winner with 15 wins (six losses) this year. 

On the other hand, Choi Chae-heung was sluggish in 26 games in 2021 with 5-9 losses and a 4.56 ERA, and then joined the military and played for the Sangmu Baseball Team. He returned from military service in June 2023, but his performance was poor.

After being discharged from the military last year, he only had one win, seven losses and an earned run average of 6.68 in 15 games. This year, he mostly threw to the bullpen, and recorded an earned run average of 6.30 at one hold without losing or losing in 14 games. Eventually, he was not included in the list of players to be protected by 20 players, and was named as a compensation player by LG. 

The LG club said, "Choi Chae-heung has enough potential and has proved his ability by winning 11 games as a starting pitcher in 2020. I expect to find my career high in 2020, and if I find myself, I expect to be able to take charge of a domestic starting position for the team as a young player."