Those who have eaten meat eat it well. After winning the championship, Oh Ji-hwan (34), the captain of the LG Twins, bit his lip to enjoy the honor once again.
Oh Ji-hwan started as the fifth batter’s shortstop against the Kiwoom Heroes in the “2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League Exhibition Game” held at Jamsil Stadium on the 19th. Oh Ji-hwan’s hot batting was outstanding from the beginning of the game.유흥알바
In the bottom of the second inning, he hit a slider by Kim Sun-ki, the opponent team’s starting pitcher, at first base with no outs, and hit a double to the right field to continue scoring opportunities. A similar situation occurred at the next batter’s box. Kim hit Kim’s slider with one out and runners on first and second bases in the bottom of the third inning with his team leading 3-0. The batters Oh Ji-hwan played hard on the opponent’s mound by scoring a total of 14 hits and 12 points. He is preparing to enter the regular season in an upbeat mood by winning three consecutive exhibition games.
“My sense of play in the exhibition game was not bad,” Oh Ji-hwan said after the match. “I had some areas to adapt to, including ABS (automatic pitching judgment system) strike zone. Rather, I had high concentration and learned about the system. I was able to hit similar balls offensively, and the team’s tendency was not bad. I started thinking about that part because I got hurt during the exhibition game last year. I focused on taking care of my body and started the season normally, but fortunately, there were no injuries (not just me). The starting point for the team to step up normally is important, but it is not bad,” he said.
LG will celebrate the 2024 season as the defending champion. Oh Ji-hwan, who has won the title 15 years after his debut, pumped up his fist even more to keep the position. “As I mentioned at the club’s opening ceremony, nothing is really obvious. I also don’t want to miss out on winning the title. Personally, I am more desperate now that I have won the title. (I need to win steadily) to say that our team is strong. There are many issues, including (Ham) Deok-ju’s injury, but I earnestly told the players to start the season with the same goal,” he said.
Last year, Oh Ji-hwan had an unforgettable year as the champion’s captain. However, it was also clear that he had to make progress. These are batting indicators that only posted a batting average of 0.268 (113 hits in 422 times at bat) with eight home runs and a slugging percentage of 0.396. LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop wants to center the lineup by giving Oh the mission of batting average of .300 or 30 home runs in the off-season. “It’s very high, but a player has to try his best. (If I achieve it) it could be my value. The coach set a goal that I can do that, so if I try to reach it somehow, my personal performance will improve and my team’s performance will improve, so I think positively,” he said.
“I tried to be aggressive and got better. I watched a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in the spring camp, and even promising players and players in the 1.5th division did not miss a single ball easily and turned it confidently. When attacking, I thought I should be really aggressive. Now that it’s ABS system, I think being more aggressive helped me.”
LG will announce its start of the 2024 season at its home stadium, Jamsil Stadium, on the 23rd. His opponent will be Korean Monster Ryu Hyun-jin, who played in the Major League Baseball until last year. Oh Ji-hwan expressed his commitment to face Ryu.
“Ryu Hyun-jin is an incredible player that I really respect. However, a game is not played by one person. If (Ryu) Hyun-jin gives seven scoreless innings, we can pick a score from the eighth to ninth innings and win. We aim to win, and we have good expectations,” he said. “I hope the team performs better than last year, and I want to aim higher by breaking the most wins (87 wins/2022) in a season that I failed to achieve last year.”