Still, the clock of the heroes turns… 22-year-old Lee Jeong-hoo, successor, 21-year-old 150km fireballer, 19-year-old AG catcher ‘Don’t ignore it if you’re the last one’

Is the 2023 season of Kiwoom at the bottom no longer meaningful? Not like that. It can be said that preparations for the 2024 season began through a tense real battle. They started preparing for the 2024 season much earlier than the other nine clubs.

In any case, the club’s initial plans went awry. In fact, for the first time in the club’s history, they recruited two outside free agents (Won Jong-hyun, 4 years, 2.5 billion won, Lee Hyeong-jong, 4 years, 2 billion won), and at the beginning of the season, while receiving the nomination right, they recruited veteran corner infielder Lee Won-seok. Even Lee Won-seok was given a 2+1 year long-term contract of 1 billion won.

However, there was no synergy with the existing power at all. Won Jong-hyun was appointed as the main setup man in the 8th inning following finisher Kim Jae-woong, but was unable to throw the ball during the NC finisher. He had a hiatus due to injury from the beginning of the season, and eventually ended the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. In the worst case, the entire 2024 season can be blown.

Hyungjong Lee has not been able to settle down as a full-time outfielder and is missing from the first team. He’s not sick, but he suffers from the worst batting slump. In addition, among the players recruited from the release market, only Lim Chang-min, who has returned, does his part. This is the season when the unique color of this team, which is good at recruiting players, has completely collapsed.

Here, among the existing forces, large and small injured people began to appear one after another. Every year, when a long-term race is held, a team like this comes out and collapses, but this year’s main character is Kiwoom. Song Seong-moon, Kim Hwi-jip, Shin Jun-woo, Lim Ji-yeol, Lim Byung-wook, Lee Yong-gyu, Lee Won-seok, Lee Ji-young, etc. Even foreign players Edison Russell and Eric Yokishi. And as soon as the second half started, even the leading star, Lee Jung-hoo, collapsed. On the 18th and 20th, they swept 3 consecutive home matches against Lotte, but 46 wins, 64 losses, 3 draws, and 1.5 games behind 9th place Samsung are at the bottom. 

Among the players mentioned above, there are returning players, and there are players who will be returning soon. Of course, there are cases where the season was out like Lee Jung-hoo. In the end, Kiwoom accepted LG’s offer and gave away Choi Won-tae and brought in Lee Joo-hyung (22), the best prospect of the same age.메이저사이트

Lee Joo-hyung proves that LG and Kiwoom are not mistaken. In 38 games, batting average 0.308, 3 home runs, 15 RBIs, 17 runs scored, 3 stolen bases, OPS 0.855. In fact, he was a player he would not have recruited if he had Lee Jung-hoo. Even if he was recruited, he would not have been given time to play in center field. If Lee Jung-hoo and Lee Hyeong-jong had been in the outfield all year round as the club had planned, Joo-hyeong Lee would not have had a clear opportunity to play like LG, even if he came to Kiwoom.

However, as Lee Joo-hyung is fixed as a center fielder, he fully demonstrates his baseball talent. Accurate batting, quick feet, and double production capacity. He is a player that makes you imagine whether the industry’s prospect that one day a 20-20 will be possible is correct. He waved his hand at the word that he is the successor of Lee Jung-hoo, but it is evaluated that he has the possibility to grow close to Lee Jung-hoo’s level.

Kim Dong-heon (19) broke expectations and was included in the opening entry, and has been in the first team for a while, except for a brief absence from the first team at the end of the first half. He is no longer the main catcher of the next generation. He’s just the primary catcher right now. He competes on par with Ji-Young Lee, and when Ji-Young Lee is out due to an injury, he plays every day.

In 83 games, batting average 0.263, 2 homers, 17 RBIs, 21 runs, OPS 0.692. Especially in the second half, his batting average is 0.311, 2 home runs and 6 RBIs, and his hitting is quite impressive. It is a general assessment in the industry that he is better than ordinary rookie catchers in terms of pitcher lead and defense rather than his hitting. When Jang Jae-young, whose weakness was the ups and downs of his pitching, took the mound as a starting pitcher, he only opened his mitt in the middle and did not move left or right at all, receiving praise from commentator Lee Soon-cheol of SBS Sports, who was relaying the game. It is interpreted as consideration for Jang Jae-young. He was even selected for the Hangzhou Asian Games team. It is a chance for the catcher who has had first-team experience in his early 20s to solve his military service all at once.

Jang Jae-young (21) is also a ‘discovery of the year’ in Kiwoom anyway. Average ERA of 1 win and 3 losses in 16 matches 5.13. It is true that he is growing more slowly than expected inside and outside the club, such as winning his first team win in three years after joining the club. However, lately he has been throwing 5-6 innings fairly consistently.

It is true that it is difficult to get out of the 5th selection immediately, and there is a cold-hearted view that it is not the ability to be in the 1st team unless it has the symbolism of 900 million sales. However, it is clear that this team is a resource that needs to be developed as a next-generation starting pitcher. In the yard where Choi Won-tae went out, there is no choice but to bet life and death on nurturing Jang Jae-young. As the burden on his performance has almost disappeared, if he gains something more in the remaining games, he can promise a bright 2024.

Adding their ages together makes them only 62 years old. Whether it’s a weed or a flower, it’s a law to bloom and grow in trials to become firm. Now, the heroes are having a hard time for 2024. There are no meaningless matches.