The strikeout leader in South Korean baseball will undergo elbow surgery that will rule him out for the rest of this season.
The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Saturday their right-hander An Woo-jin will have Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ligament in his pitching elbow. The Heroes added An hasn't yet scheduled the procedure but will go under the knife "as soon as possible."
An had an initial test done Friday after experiencing elbow pains and doctors first suspected ligament damage. Further MRI confirmed An's ligament tear, and the Heroes said An will have surgery without additional tests.
Pitchers typically miss a year of action following Tommy John surgery, a procedure named after a former major league hurler, and An will likely be back in the fall of 2024 at the earliest.
An last pitched Thursday, a day after his 24th birthday. He was leading the KBO with 164 strikeouts in 150 2/3 innings and sat second with a 2.39 ERA.
The fireballer enjoyed the best season of his career in 2022, when he led the league with a 2.11 ERA and 224 strikeouts, the most ever by a Korean-born pitcher in a season.
An made his KBO debut in 2018 and split his time between the rotation and the bullpen before becoming a full-time starter in 2021.
In 2022, An tossed a career-high 196 innings in the regular season and then pitched 26 2/3 more innings in the postseason as the Heroes enjoyed a surprising run to the Korean Series.
Despite An's continued excellence on the mound this year, the Heroes are well out of postseason contention. Through Friday's action, they were in ninth place among 10 teams at 49-70-3 (wins-losses-ties), 12.5 games out of the fifth and final postseason spot with 22 games remaining.
"I am disappointed that I won't be with the team to finish out the season, and I am sorry to my teammates and coaching staff that I am leaving them at such a difficult juncture for the team," An said. "I am looking forward to coming back healthy after a successful surgery."
Source: Yonhap News Agency