Yoon Young-chul has 7 wins, 4 losses and a 4.30 ERA in 75 ⅓ innings in 16 games this season, and he has not been on the mound for the first team for two months due to a fractured spine fatigue.
Yoon Young-chul, who started against SSG Landers on July 13, was replaced after throwing only two innings due to back pain. Later, he was found to have lumbar inflammation through a hospital examination, and was excluded from the first-team entry the next day.
Yoon Young-chul conducted another examination in Seoul on the 15th, and finally, a fracture of spinal fatigue was found. It was not a situation that required surgery, but a gap was inevitable. As Will Crow and Lee Eui-ri had already left, KIA, which had been troubled by the starting lineup, had no choice but to deepen its worries.
Yoon Young-chul, who focused on recovery after injury, started his return by throwing his first bullpen pitching on the 6th. He checked his condition by throwing a total of 30 pitches (15 sets each). After his first bullpen pitching, he said through the club, "I pitched mainly on the fastball, and it was my first bullpen pitching since I was injured, so I threw the ball thinking that I should pitch lightly to about 80%. The power was well delivered to the ball, and the pitching balance was not bad. Above all, it is most satisfying to have no back pain."
There was no problem with his physical condition since his first bullpen pitching, and Yoon Young-chul joined the remaining team in Hampyeong as planned. However, given the hiatus, time is needed to check his sense of practice before returning to the first team.
"With (Yoon Young-chul) raising the number of pitches to some extent, we are considering whether to start at the end after throwing the ball in the first team or once in the first team after two actual appearances in the Futures League," he added.
With only 11 games left in the first division, the KIA Futures team also does not have many remaining games. The Futures team will take a five-day break from the 12th to the 16th and conclude the Futures League schedule with the match against the Lotte Giants in Sangdong from the 17th to the 18th, the match against the Goyang Heroes from the 20th to the 22nd, the match against the Doosan Bears in Icheon from the 24th to the 26th, the match against the LG Twins from the 27th to the 29th, and the match against the Hampyeong Sangmu from October 1st to 2nd.
Although no specific schedule has been set, the head coach's plan is to send Yoon Young-chul out of the first-team game before the end of the season if he has a chance. "I was reported to be in good condition (Yoon Young-chul's) and his physical condition," coach Lee Bum-ho said. "After his first appearance in the Futures League, we are going to decide (Yoon Young-chul's schedule for the rest of the season)."