Yang Hyeon-jong set to play as starter for Texas Rangers

Yang Hyeon-jong has secured the starting pitcher position at the Major League baseball. He officially joined the rotation roaster of starting pitchers for the Texas Rangers.

“Yang Hyeon-jong will play as a starting pitcher for now. He is pitching well and is entitled to,” Rangers Manager Chris Woodward said ahead of a home game against the New York Yankees on Saturday. “Like other starting pitchers, we will let him to increase the number of pitches.”

Yang started in a match against the Yankees on Friday, and gave three hits, four walks, and two runs and had two strikes during five and one third of innings. As Texas batters fail to garner hits due to Yankees pitcher Corey Scott Kluber’s clever no-hit, no-run play, Yang had his first loss since his debut in the Big League, but successfully demonstrated his value as a starting pitcher.

Yang signed a split contract with the Rangers in February, and participated in the team’s spring training camp as an invited player. He displayed good performance by giving 12 hits and six runs, and posting 10 strikeouts during 10 innings in total during five exhibition games, but failed to make the entry list for the season-opening game. The South Korean pitcher, who played as a bullpen pitcher after being invited to the Big League last month, started in a game against the Minnesota Twins on May 6, and posted eight strikeouts during three and one third of innings, giving strong impression to fans.

Yang will play as a starting pitcher in one of the two consecutive away games against the Los Angeles Angels scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.


Dong-Wook Kim creating@donga.com