CHOI Wonjoon

General
OVERCOMING CANCER
In 2016 and 2017 he had surgeries due to thyroid cancer. In 2018 he changed his name from Choi Dong Hyun to Choi Won-joon. "The new name did not have any particular meaning. I just wanted to change my name as I wished to stay healthy after having three surgeries." (yna.co.kr, 06 Apr 2020)

POSITION
He originally played as a second baseman as well as a shortstop while in primary school, until he was encouraged to switch to pitching by a coach, who told him that he had a good throwing posture and shoulders. He began focusing solely on pitching in grade ten of high school. "My coach at primary school recommended pitching to me. Despite having a knack for throwing a ball, I didn't have the strength, so I threw sidearm and, actually, pitching wasn't fun for me at first. I wanted to throw a fast ball, but I wasn't good at it. When I did pitching training at Shinil Middle School, a coach at Shinil High School came to me and said we would begin serious pitching training when I come to high school." (KUSF Naver blog, 20 Apr 2015)