Ko Young-pyo heads to the dugout with a smile on his face
Ace Ko Young-pyo (31), one of the key players behind the KT Wiz's surge in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), 사설토토 has been given a honeyed summer vacation.
KT removed Ko Young-pyo from its first-team roster ahead of its game against the NC Dinos at Katie Wiz Park in Suwon on Aug. 13.
A KT team official explained, "It's for rest."
This is the first first-team dismissal of the season for Ko, who has been in and out of the starting rotation.
Young-pyo Ko has been solid on the mound this season, going 10-5 with a 2.51 ERA in 21 starts.
He leads the league with 22 quality starts (QS - six or more innings with three or fewer earned runs) and 15 quality starts plus (QS+ - seven or more innings with three or fewer earned runs).
Young-pyo Ko extended his QS+ streak to six games with seven innings of 13 hits and three runs against the Suwon NC on Dec. 12, 스포츠토토맨 setting a new club record in the category (previously held by William Cuevas with five games).
However, his struggles on the mound were exposed as he gave up 13 hits in seven innings, his most this season.
Young-pyo Ko showed his crisis-management skills by getting out of a bases-loaded jam twice.
"If you don't have a decisive pitch, (opposing batters) won't try to hit the first pitch," said KT manager Lee Kang-cheol, who analyzed Ko's crisis management by saying, "When the count is high, you have a decisive pitch, a changeup, so you try to face it quickly.
Ko's dismissal from the first team came at the last minute, leaving KT with one roster spot open for the final game of the 토토 three-game series against NC.