Veteran left-handed pitcher Bong Jung-keun will miss the World Baseball Classic next year because of shoulder problems, South Korean national team officials said Thursday.

Bong, a 32-year-old closer for the LG Twins in the Korea Baseball Organization, will undergo up to four months of rehab on his left shoulder, according to Yang Sang-moon, the national team’s bench coach.

Bong, who previously pitched for the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds in Major League Baseball, has represented South Korea at the first two editions of the WBC, in 2006 and 2009.

He had surgery in 2004 to insert two pins in his pitching shoulder and a recent checkup showed the pins had dislodged. Yang said the pitcher told him of the diagnosis earlier Thursday. (Yonhap News)