On Thursday, Hanwha Eagles rookie Jeong Woo-joo notched three consecutive strikeouts on nine consecutive pitches to escape a jam.
Thursday’s matchup between the Hanwha Eagles and Kiwoom Heroes had scouts from 11 different MLB teams present. According to ChosunBiz, scouts from the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Kansas City Royals, and Los Angeles Dodgers were in attendance to watch Song Sung-mun, an infielder on the Heroes, and pitcher Cody Ponce, who is dominating this season. However, they were surprisingly treated to a phenomenal seventh inning by Jeong.
Jeong, who was selected second overall in the 2025 KBO Rookie Draft, came into the seventh inning with runners on first and second with nobody out. He notched his first strikeout on a 95 mph fastball. He threw six more fastballs to strike out Kim Woong-bin and Ruben Cardenas.
Per ChosunBiz, all nine of Jeong’s pitches were fastballs and he topped out at 95 mph. He became the 11th pitcher in league history to strike out three batters in nine pitches, and is just the second rookie to accomplish the feat. The Doosan Bears’ Kim Taek-yeon achieved it as a rookie last season.
Jeong has a 3.32 ERA this year and has appeared in 43 games during his rookie season. At just 18 years old, he has already done something that most pitchers can only dream about. It was also the first time he had struck out three batters in one inning of work all season. It was the 11th time overall that he has notched three strikeouts in an outing.
