The name that was forgotten for a while was mentioned again. The head coach and senior members of the team also expressed their expectations for Koo Chang-mo (28, Sangmu Baseball Team), who is five months away from being discharged from the military.스포츠토토

Lee Ho-joon (49), manager of the NC Dinos, said in a New Year's interview at Changwon NC Park on the 3rd, "[Koo Chang-mo] said there's nothing special, he said it's good," adding, "It's time to not hurt anymore and do well."

Koo Chang-mo is currently serving in the military. He joined the military in December 2023, and spent one season with the Sangmu Baseball Organization. He pitched in only two games last year. After suffering from spinal surgery on his left arm, he made his comeback in a game against his hometown NC Dinosaurs in Masan on Sept. 24.

In two games in the Futures League, he gave up three hits and one walk, and one strikeout. The ERA was zero without a run. The ball speed was in the late 130km/h to early 140km/h, not as good as it was. He didn't seem to overwhelm the batter, but it was meaningful that he pitched without any major problems.

Koo Chang-mo, who led the team to a combined championship in 2020 with a whopping performance of 9 wins, no losses, and a 1.74 ERA, began to suffer from left elbow inflammation in the second half of that year. The following year, he was out for the season due to fatigue fractures in his left arm forearm, and in 2022, he returned in late May to record 11-5 with a 2.10 ERA in 19 games.

As a result, NC signed an extension contract of up to seven years and 13.2 billion won (10.2 million U.S. dollars), expressing high expectations. However, he left the club in the 2023 season after being diagnosed with a fatigue fracture of his left arm, and failed to make the long-awaited entry into the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. Eventually, as his injury recurred, he chose to join the military. As Koo suffered from such injury, a healthy return itself was a meaningful result.

Manager Lee Ho-joon, who has a relationship with Koo Chang-mo, was appointed to NC. Manager Lee had a relationship with Koo Chang-mo from 2015 to 2017. He was the youngest when he was a player, but now he has grown into a main pitcher.

"When I talked to him on the phone on January 1st, he said, 'If you keep the 5th place until I come, I will make you the 1st place,' but I have to trust him," manager Lee said with a smile. "I heard there's nothing special and it's good. It's time to not get sick anymore and do well in baseball," he said. "I think the timing is good with me."

"If (former) Chang-mo and (Shin) Young-woo join us, a player who (Shin) Min-hyuk can join as a starting player and (Shin) Min-hyuk can challenge for the presidency," Lee said right after taking office last year. "If you stay healthy, you will be a member of the national team. If you hang in there like Kim Kwang-hyun of SSG and Yang Hyun-jong of KIA, you will be the perfect first to third starting players."

Captain Park Min-woo also had a meal with Koo Chang-mo on the first day of the new year. "I heard that he is in great physical condition. He said that he feels like flying away," he said. "I'm not going to believe him," he said with a smile, which means that he has high expectations for Koo Chang-mo.

Last year, NC had been agonizing over the issue of native starters all year round. Shin Min-hyuk, Lee Jae-hak, and Kim Si-hoon played in the starting rotation, but Shin Min-hyuk, who took the surgery in early September, recorded the most wins (eight wins) and the most innings (121 innings) by a Korean player. In the 2023 season when Koo Chang-mo was in, the most wins by a Korean player were only five by Lee Jae-hak, Shin Min-hyuk, and Choi Sung-young. The healthy return of Koo Chang-mo is one of the cards that will solve this problem.