[스포츠춘추]
In the race to recruit a veteran left-handed pitcher, in which four clubs jumped in, the Lotte Giants posted a victory. Left-hander Cha Woo-chan, who was released from LG, wears a Lotte uniform.
Lotte is on December 1st “We recruited left-handed pitcher Cha Woo-chan under the condition of paying an annual salary of 50 million won and a separate option.”announced that
Cha Woo-chan joined the Samsung Lions as a rookie in the 2nd round of the 2006 nomination, and developed into a top left-hander in the league with his fastball and various breaking balls. In 2017, he signed a large free agency contract worth 9.5 billion won in 4 years and moved to LG, and played an active role in recording double-digit multipliers for the first three consecutive years.
Cha Woo-chan, who only appeared in 18 games due to a shoulder injury in the past 3 years, received a notice of release from LG following the season ended.
Cha Woo-chan, who joined the Samsung Lions in the second round in 2006, moved to the LG Twins in 2017 and won 10 wins in three consecutive seasons until 2019. During his 16 seasons, he recorded 112 wins, 79 losses and 32 holds in 457 games. did.
The club expects that Cha Woo-chan will be able to show a good figure if he uses his long experience as a player, as he has devoted himself to rehabilitation following leaving due to a shoulder injury during the 2021 season.
In particular, as a veteran, it is expected that he will have a positive influence on young players and become an example. Afterwards, he personally went through rehabilitation training and found a new team, and it is known that four clubs, including Lotte, showed interest in recruiting Cha Woo-chan. Among them, Lotte, who actively sent love calls right following the release, captured Cha Woo-chan’s heart.
Lotte, which strengthened its bullpen by recruiting veteran pitchers Kim Sang-soo and Yoon Myung-jun this winter, brought in Cha Woo-chan to add experience to the pitching staff. It is evaluated that the mound is expected to play a role to compensate for the lack of experience of the younger pitchers, given that the mound consists of many young fastball pitchers.
An official from Lotte said, “As Cha Woo-chan has devoted himself to rehabilitation due to a shoulder injury, we expect that he will be able to show a good figure if he uses the experience of his long career as a player. In particular, as a veteran, he is expected to have a positive influence on young players and serve as an example.”