Due to his injury last year, Moon Dong-ju had a 1-3, 2-hold ERA of 5.65 in 13 games and 28 ⅔ innings. However, he showed a sharp change in his healthy body this year.
In this season, he played as a pillar of Hanwha's starting lineup, with 8 wins, 8 losses, and ERA 3.72 in 118 ⅔ innings in 23 games. In particular, in April, it received a lot of attention by spraying 160km of fast balls.
Since October, he has served as an ace at the Hangzhou Asian Games and the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC).
Moon Dong-joo, who has been upgraded to the next level in various fields, received the Rookie of the Year award at the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO Awards on the 27th of last month. He was also selected as the 'Rookie of the Year' at the Sports Seoul Awards on November 30.
Moon Dong-ju is expected to carry out his busy schedule for a while as several more awards ceremonies remain in the future.
If a player who has been focusing only on sports throughout the season successfully finishes the season and receives a spectacular spotlight at the awards ceremony, his shoulders will naturally be shrugged.
In particular, mind control is more difficult for players who have just turned 20s, such as Moon Dong-ju.
Among the winners of the Rookie of the Year award, there are some cases in which he failed to develop his skills due to the early popularity and became an ordinary player.
Moon Dong-ju is also aware of this. I don't hate the attention paid to myself, but I try to pay more attention to baseball because my current popularity could disappear at once if my grades don't follow.
Moon Dong-ju said, "I don't want to feel excited while attending various awards ceremonies recently, but I get excited without knowing it. I'm happy, but on the other hand, I'm worried and have a lot of thoughts, he said.
"Fans recognize me more on the street than before," he continued. At times like this, I always think about lowering my posture because if I do something wrong, another misunderstanding may occur," he stressed.
He also said, "These days, I spend a lot of time sitting at a hair salon for hair and makeup, but it's hard for me. As expected, baseball players are most comfortable when playing baseball. I think I should play baseball better, which is my duty," he said with a smile.
People around me say that the "age of Moon Dong-ju" has opened in Korean baseball, but he does not admit it. It is an assessment made by itself that there are still few achievements that have been shown.
Moon Dong-ju said, "I don't think I got any position just because I got the Rookie of the Year award. In particular, he said, "I haven't experienced a big international competition like the Premier 12 or the World Baseball Classic yet," adding, "I think we need to achieve results in big competitions with our experience this year."
"As much as the fans like me, I feel a lot of pressure and responsibility. "I will use this as a motivation and prepare well to become an upgraded player next season," he added.