‘I keep looking at you’… The two catchers in Seoul who felt awkward in each other’s uniforms
Lotte Yoo Kang-nam entered the plate in the top of the 7th inning at the ‘2023 KBO League Demonstration Game’ held at Changwon NC Park on the 24th. In NC, there was Park Se-hyuk, who changed his mask after catcher Ahn Joong-yeol.
Yoo Kang-nam and Park Se-hyuk exchanged greetings briefly and then laughed while watching the uniform change.
Park Se-hyuk, who joined Doosan in the 2012 KBO draft, wore an NC uniform in November as a free agent for a total of 4.6 billion won, including a 4-year down payment of 1.8 billion won, an annual salary of 2.4 billion won, and an incentive of 400 million won.
By 2022, Park Se-hyuk has appeared in 782 regular league (group 1) games, recording 508 hits, 24 home runs, 259 RBIs, a batting average of 0.259, and an on-base percentage of 0.333. He played in 128 games this year, posting a batting average of 0.248, a scoring position batting average of 0.354, and an on-base percentage of 0.320. In the 2019 season, as the main catcher, he led his team to victory in the Korean Series and played for the national team in the 2019 WBSC Premier 12.
Yoo Kang-nam, who joined the LG Twins in the 7th round of 2011, also wore a Lotte uniform as a free agent last November. Gangnam Yoo signed a free agency contract with a contract period of 4 years, a down payment of 4 billion won바카라사이트, an annual salary of 3.4 billion won, and an option of 600 million won for a total of 8 billion won.
Kang-Nam Yoo has appeared in 1030 games until the 2022 season, recording a batting average of 0.267, 103 homers and 447 RBIs. In particular, he is highly regarded as the only catcher to have played 950 or more innings in the last 5 consecutive seasons, including 1008.1 innings as a catcher all season.
Coincidentally, Park Se-hyeok and Yoo Gang-nam’s Seoul team’s master of the house, but from the 2023 season, they met for the first time wearing different uniforms.
Both teams were able to meet in the game the day before (23rd), but the game was canceled due to rain. And Yoo Kang-nam started, but Park Se-hyeok was the first face-to-face because he wore a catcher mask following Noh Jin-hyuk at bat in the beginning of the 7th inning and Ahn Jung-geun.
Park Se-hyeok, wearing a catcher’s mask, was seen glancing at Yoo Kang-nam several times. LG’s striped uniform was familiar to the eyes, but Yoo Kang-nam, wearing a Lotte uniform, looked awkward.
▲Lotte Yoo Kang-nam and NC Park Se-hyeok, who met for the first time in an exhibition game wearing different uniforms from last year.
At the beginning of the 7th inning, Kangnam Yoo, with the first company, went to first base after being hit by Song Myeong-ki’s 5-pitch 144km straight ball.
Lotte replaced Yoo Kang-nam with Shin Yun-ho as the runner at 7 seconds, 1 company and 1 base.
After Shin Yun-ho succeeded in stealing second base, Ahn Kwon-soo hit a right-handed hit and won 6-5. Scoreless, Koo Seung-min perfected 1 inning, and Kim Sang-soo pitched 1 scoreless inning.
In the NC, starter Shin Min-hyeok gave up 3 hits and 3 runs in 4 innings, and Song Myeong-ki allowed 3 runs in 4 innings, and Kim Jin-ho blocked it with 1 scoreless inning.
Meanwhile, professional baseball, which opens on the 1st, will be played by KIA-SSG in Incheon, Lotte-Doosan in Jamsil, Hanwha-Kiwoom in Gocheok, NC-Samsung in Daegu, and LG-KT in Suwon.
