Professional baseball SSG Landers Choo Shin-soo (42) confessed that he is no longer in a physical condition to continue his active career.메이저사이트
Choo Shin-soo started as the second designated hitter against the Kiwoom Heroes of the “2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League” at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 7th and scored two hits, one RBI and one run from four times at bat. Thanks to Choo Shin-soo’s performance, SSG won 6-2 and won two consecutive games to secure the winning series of three consecutive games during the week.
Choo Shin-soo, who played in 16 seasons (2005-2020) in the Major League and recorded a batting average of 275 (1,671 hits in 6087 at-bats) in 218 home runs, 782 RBIs, 961 runs, 157 steals, and OPS.824 in the 2021 season, returned to Korea by joining SSG. He has a batting average of 264 (380 hits in 1440 at-bats) in 420 games during his four seasons (2021-2024), 54 home runs, 197 RBIs, 259 runs, 50 steals, and OPS. Choo Shin-soo, who announced his retirement for the last time this year, has a batting average of 293 (55 hits in 188 at-bats), five home runs, 29 RBIs, 33 runs and 4 steals in 59 games in his final season as an active player.
Choo, who has not played in many games due to poor shoulder conditions, showed off his strong batting performance by hitting nine hits, two homers and five RBIs in recent four games. In an interview after the game, Choo said, “Actually, my physical conditions remain the same. I have been in bad condition since the camp, and I think I am just enduring every day anyway. There is no other way to improve significantly except for surgery. Now that my shoulder has gotten a little better, I can swing without paying attention. Before that, I was in too bad condition. I have no other way, so I have to rest.”
SSG had won five consecutive games recently, but lost four in a row, and has achieved two consecutive wins again, thus successfully rebounding. Its performance this season has been 53 wins, one draw and 52 losses, and a .505 winning percentage, keeping it in the fifth place. “Players should know that it is over even if the results are not good enough. Of course, that should not be the case, but even if we lose 10 consecutive games, we already have 10 consecutive games, so don’t worry. It is up to the players to create a new atmosphere the next day. While it is the players who make the mood down and make it worse, it is also the players who make the mood good. What has already passed is that we cannot go back even when we are angry and under stress. What I learned from playing baseball and living in the U.S. is to quickly forget about good or bad things and prepare for the next thing. If players are good at this mindset, they will lose consecutive games and have longer winning streak,” Choo said.
On SSG’s possibility to win the title, Choo Shin-soo said, “We need to think about winning the title until the end of the season. If we don’t have the word post-season championship, we don’t have to sweat when playing baseball. In fact, it is not easy for fans to come to see us every time even in such a hot weather. We are truly grateful, and we must never give up until the end, even for the sake of our fans. We must do it until the end. We believe that we can win the title. I have never thought so.”
This year is all the more meaningful to Choo since it is his last season as a pro baseball player. However, he has yet to realize his last season. “I don’t really know yet,” Choo said. “I don’t think too much about the fact that it’s the last game because I’m in such a bad physical condition. I think I’ll feel it until the last game. I don’t feel sorry because my body is in such a bad condition right now.”
“In a way, I feel like I’m acknowledging that I’m the last one,” Choo said. “I’m okay and I’ll have a good result. But I’ve done as much as I can and my body is sending me a signal that I need to stop now. I don’t feel like there is anything more I can do. This is really the last year. I never thought that this situation would come to me. I always thought that I was special and special. I never imagined that my body would be this tired and send a signal to me that I need to stop. But I think it’s really time to stop,” he said, calmly accepting the end of his active career.