Son Ah-seop of the NC Dinos returned to the first-team roster ahead of the match against Changwon SSG on the 25th. On July 4, he suffered a damaged left knee posterior cruciate ligament. Everyone thought it was an out-of-season injury. The captain’s armband that Son was wearing was also handed over to Park Min-woo. It was officially excluded from the first-team entry on July 8 and was registered in the first-team entry in 79 days. It was a miraculous return.메이저사이트
Son Ah-seop said, “I missed baseball. When I was injured, I was fighting for the best five teams, but I wanted to get better quickly and give a little boost to autumn baseball. I tried hard to rehabilitate with that mindset, but the postseason fell,” adding, “I spent every day thinking about how I could get better. I think I got better faster.”
To be honest, Son said he didn’t think it was a serious injury. “I’ve never had an injury like this before. I thought I would come back after a month, but it was a bigger injury than I thought. I thought it was easy, but it wasn’t and the pain lasted longer. So I put my mind down and prepared. Even now, people around me say I came back fast enough. Thank God,” Son said with a smile.
But when he returned, the coach disappeared. NC announced the termination of its contract with manager Kang In-kwon on the afternoon of July 20 after the match against Hanwha in Changwon ended on April 19 when the team was disqualified from the fall baseball league. The team moved faster to change the atmosphere. Reviewing the disappointment in the operation of the game in the second half of the year, the team replaced the head coach. There were controversies over the timing of the change, but things happened anyway.
Kang In-kwon was appointed as the official manager after successfully completing his role as acting manager in 2022. Under Kang, Son represented the team. Kang said, “I thought that a veteran player named Son Ah-seop’s great career would lay the foundation for a young team. In his first year as manager, Kang joined the fall baseball league by ranking fourth in the regular season, and won six consecutive games until the second round of the playoffs. However, he had to finish his fall baseball career after being reverse-swept by KT. However, Kang’s chemistry with Son was good, and he continued to work as manager and captain this year.
However, Son suffered a long-term injury and Park Kun-woo also suffered a broken wrist. As a result, NC crashed and Kang In-kwon’s leadership and the entire team was reeling from the collapse. The team finally came to face with a result that everyone did not want. Son feels the responsibility deeply.
“I contacted him, but I haven’t been able to reach him because he has many thoughts. I did leave a message,” he said. “I’m the oldest member of the team right now. As a captain and the oldest member, I should have relieved my burden and encouraged him. However, as I was out of the team due to injury, I was not able to fulfill my role as a senior,” he said. “I’m truly sorry that I couldn’t play the role of a senior as I was injured and out of the team. I feel heavy because I couldn’t say goodbye. I think I should contact you again.”
During the period without Son Ah-seop, the team faltered and couldn’t balance. If there was Son Ah-seop, it might have been different. Son Ah-seop also thinks that it would have been different if he had confidence while watching the game. I saw roles that seniors could play outside of their power and performance, but that didn’t work out.
“Baseball is not a sport that two or three players can control. I don’t think I couldn’t go to the semifinals just because I was out,” he said. “But when I watched the game on TV, I felt that I was overwhelmed by the opponent team.” That hurt my feelings. Regardless of winning or losing, there are situations in which seniors are needed. Bench clearing could have happened. At that moment, if I had been there, I would have been able to give strength to my juniors, and baseball could have been helpful because I was more experienced. But I felt sorry for my juniors and I was very disappointed.”
So Son came back. I wanted to end the game with my teammates who sweated together in the first team and the fans who supported me constantly. “It’s a shame that I didn’t make it to the postseason, but I wanted to wrap up the year-long camp with my juniors, who all had a hard time, so I joined the team quickly. My goal was to finish it at Changwon NC Park with my fans who waited for me. I’m back to achieve that goal and I’m going to prepare well,” he said.