The NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) are currently playing without their cha, po, ma, and prize. Captain Son As-seob suffered a cruciate ligament injury in his knee at the start of the second half, and Park Gun-woo fractured his wrist after being hit by a sand dune during a game. In addition, Pil Seung-jo Kim Jae-yeol was also removed from the roster due to back muscle stiffness. Both Son Asub and Park won’t be able to return anytime soon, so we can forget about them. Kim Jae-yeol’s injury is a minor one that he could return to after 10 days of rest.
The biggest question mark for NC right now is the health of their ace, Kyle Hart. Hart has been the league’s dominant ace this year. He is arguably the best foreign pitcher in the league. In 21 starts, he has a 10-2 record with a 2.34 ERA (131 IP, 34 ER), 143 strikeouts, a 1.03 WHIP, and 15 quality starts. His ERA, strikeouts, and WHIP all lead the league. On the days that Hart has pitched, the team has gone an impressive 15-5-1 with one tie.
However, Hart’s most recent start was on July 31 against Gochuk Kiwoom (7 innings, 3 hits, 9 strikeouts, no runs). He hasn’t pitched in over two weeks since.
Recently, Hart has been battling a bad cold.
He’s been on IV fluids to recover. His wife and one-year-old daughter, who are in Korea, were also sick. With hand, foot, and mouth disease, 바카라사이트 the entire family’s health declined. They were tested for COVID-19 and diagnosed with infectious diseases, but nothing was found except for body aches.
Hart was finally removed from the first team roster on August 8th. The team said he would recover, but his progress was slow and they were forced to remove him from the first team. Manager Kang Kwon-hyun could only sigh in frustration at Hart’s slow recovery.
The good news is that Hart has started pitching. He threw bullpen pitches and will pitch live for the first team on the 14th. It’s all about feeling the game, but the return itself can be a big boost.
Manager Kang Myung-hwa has set a tentative return date of the 18th (Changwon Samsung Electronics), when he can return to the first team. With Hart’s experience and skill level, he should be able to return to the first team mound immediately after resting and pitching in the bullpen.
But Hart himself is cautious.
“I was thinking about pitching on Sunday (the 18th), but he said he’d like to pitch in the bullpen and live and then we’ll talk about it, so I think I’ll pitch once and see if I’m still feeling good and make a decision,” he explained. There’s a long way to go, but even the manager can’t rush things.
In Hart’s absence, the NC fell back into a six-game losing streak. On the 11th, Jamsil LG Electronics’ closer Lee Yong-chan collapsed in the ninth inning, resulting in a 3-4 loss, and on the 13th, despite Lee Jae-hak’s 6⅓ innings of three-hit ball with two walks and seven strikeouts, the team lost 0-2 due to the bats’ 12-run rally. It’s a six-game losing streak. Indeed, NC can only look forward to Hart’s return.