The second half of the 2024 KBO season will start on Tuesday, with five games on the schedule. On Saturday, the All-Star game saw the Nanum All-Stars defeat the Dream All-Stars 4-2 at Incheon SSG Landers Field, home of the SSG Landers, in Incheon, South Korea.
As the season progresses, here is a look at the top news and notes from the past week in Korea’s highest level of professional baseball.
Doosan Bears Sign SP Keisho Shirakawa
Recently finishing his six-week contract with the SSG Landers, Japanese starting pitcher Keisho Shirakawa will join the Doosan Bears to replace the injured Brandon Waddell in the starting rotation.
As reported in last week’s edition of the latest news in the KBO, a new league rule allows organizations to sign foreign players to six-week contracts if an injured player on the team needs six or more weeks of recovery from injury. On the Landers, Shirakawa replaced Cuban lefty Roenis Elias.
The 23-year-old will replace Waddell, 30, who, thus far in 2024, is 7-4 with a 3.12 ERA and averages nine strikeouts per nine innings. Waddell was removed from his start against the Lions on June 23 with shoulder pain and may require more than six weeks to return from injury, reports Maeil Business Newspaper.
KBO Sets Attendance Record
According to the Korea JoongAng Daily, the KBO surpassed six million spectators before the All-Star break for the first time in league history.
According to a press release by the KBO, 6,057,323 fans attended 418 games between Opening Day on March 23 and the final day of play before the All-Star break this past Thursday.
The all-time attendance record for a KBO season was in 2017, when 8,406,880 people visited a KBO stadium to watch their favorite KBO team.
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