– From Lotte to FA after being released from Hyundai
– Achieved 1,000 hits after many struggles
– “Weeds of a long professional life” “I endured it like that.”
While the chances of professional baseball’s Lotte Giants advancing to the fall baseball season are slim again this year, the two ‘big brothers’ are dreaming of a miracle through their hard work. The main characters are infielder Jeong Hoon (36) and pitcher Kim Sang-su (35). As those who are among the most senior in pitching struggle, young players are also waking up.바카라
Lotte won 10-3 against Samsung in Ulsan on the 5th. Following the first Monday game of this season held on the 4th (a 4-3 win over Doosan), Lotte, which had two consecutive wins, recorded 53 wins and 59 losses (a winning percentage of 0.473). Lotte, which had reduced its lead over 5th place KIA, which did not have a game that day, to 6 games, managed to revive the dying embers of fall baseball.
On this day, Lotte’s ‘victory fairy’ Aaron Wilkerson fought back by allowing 3 runs in 6 innings, and the batting lineup also recorded 13 hits, including 3 runs by Yoo Kang-nam, to achieve a huge victory.
The player who received more attention than anyone else on this day was Jeong Hoon. He started as the second hitter and first baseman, and went 5-for-5 with 3 hits, 3 RBIs, and 2 runs scored. Jeong Hoon’s bat was on fire from the first inning. With no outs on first base, he targeted opposing starter Choi Chae-heung’s third pitch fastball and scored a mid-game hit, sending runner Yoon Dong-hee to scoring position on first base. Jeong Hoon then reached third base when Jeon Jun-woo hit a ground ball, and succeeded in scoring on Goodrum’s sacrifice hit.
Jeong Hoon completed his multi-hit early by adding a hit in the 5th inning. Jung Hoon, who came to bat for the fourth time in the 5th inning with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd base, brought home runner Jinhyuk Noh on second base with a heavy hit. Above all, with this hit, Jeong Hoon achieved 1,000 hits in his personal career. There were 115 players who achieved this record before him, so it is not a ‘big record’, but it is special for Jeong Hoon.
Jeong Hoon debuted as a professional player in 2006 and is a representative player who achieved ‘human victory’ after going through many hardships. He joined the now-defunct Hyundai Unicorns, but was released without ever making it to the first-team stage and finished his military career as an active-duty player. After being discharged from the military, he worked as a high school baseball coach to earn pocket money, then took a report player test and joined Lotte in 2010. He batted only .156 in 29 games his first year. Nevertheless, Jung Hoon did not give up and played in 135 games in 2015, setting a career high with a batting average of 0.300. In 2021, he hit his first grand slam home run 15 years after his debut, and the following year, he signed a three-year free agent contract with Lotte for a total of 1.8 billion won. After reaching his 1,000th hit, Jeong Hoon recalled, “I held on like a weed for so long.”
Kim Sang-soo, who has established himself as a sure-to-win team this season, also played well on this day by adding a hold. Kim Sang-soo, who took the mound after Kim Jin-wook in the top of the 7th inning with 2 outs and runners on first and second base with the score up 7-3, caught fourth batter Pirella with a fly ball and finished the inning without allowing a run. Kim Sang-soo went on the mound in the 8th inning and caught leadoff hitter Oh Jae-il with a grounder to second base and passed the ball to Jin Seung-hyun. As a result, Kim Sang-soo maintained an ERA of ‘0’ for 13 consecutive games.
Kim Sang-soo, who was released from SSG and wore a Lotte uniform, is playing the role of a ‘lucky person’. He has played 61 games, pitched 47 innings and already has 17 holds. In the second half of the year, he is continuing his salty pitching with an earned run average of 1.04. Kim Sang-soo said after the game, “I’m still young. He expressed confidence, saying, “I don’t want to hear people say that I have lost velocity due to age or that I am an old man.”