Lee Jung-hoo (26, San Francisco Giants) will not be able to see him at the Kiwoom Heroes Spring Camp in Arizona, the U.S., early next month. As the first major leaguer from the Heroes, the spring camp site did not overlap with major league teams, it will start differently from the seniors who prepared for a new stage in their former team.헤라카지노
The Major League’s official website, MLB.com , revealed the schedule of 30 teams’ spring camps on the 18th (Korea time). Lee Jung-hoo’s team, San Francisco, began its first training session for pitcher and catcher at Scottsdale Stadium in Arizona on Feb. 16, and predicted a full squad training session that includes fielders on Feb. 21.
Lee Jung-hoo, who is currently training individually in Korea, will depart for the U.S. from late January to early February. After training individually, he will join San Francisco at the first training session of the pitcher-catcher on Feb. 16. As the timing of the fielder’s joining is entirely up to the player’s choice, Lee decided to join the team five days early to quickly adapt himself to the local area.
Unfortunately, Lee Jung-hoo will not be able to be seen at the Kiwoom spring camp. “Lee Jung-hoo, Lee Jung-hoo’s KBO-era team, and Kiwoom, which is in charge of management in Korea, officially announced on the 18th in a phone call with Star News that “Lee Jung-hoo will not go to Kiwoom’s Arizona spring camp in the U.S.” The main reason is that the Salt River at Talking Stick Stadium, where Kiwoom has set up a spring camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, is where it is shared with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Lee Jung-hoo also received a lot of help when he used the facility with Arizona at last year’s spring camp, but now it is difficult to use it naturally because he belongs to San Francisco. Kiwoom’s team will leave for Arizona, the U.S., on January 29th and begin full-fledged training from February 1st after adapting to the local area.
The move is inevitably different from senior major leaguers from the Heroes, including Kang Jung-ho (37, retired), Park Byung-ho (38, KT Wiz), and Kim Ha-sung (29, San Diego Padres). The three have been able to train with the Kiwoom team until mid-February when the Major League camp begins, because Kiwoom’s spring camp site has been different from that of the Major League team.
Kang Jung-ho, the Heroes’ No. 1 Major Leaguer, joined the Nexen Heroes (now Kiwoom) camp in Surprise, Arizona in 2015, when he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates. Later, he headed to the Pittsburgh Major League camp set up in Bradenton, Florida. Park Byung-ho also joined the Minnesota camp in Florida after training at the Nexen camp in Arizona when he entered the Minnesota Twins in 2016.
Kim Ha-sung prepared to advance to the Major League in a more familiar environment. In 2021, when he joined San Diego, personal training was not possible in the United States due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) that hit the world. At that time, 10 KBO League clubs set up spring camps in Korea, and Kim Ha-sung was able to build his body in Kiwoom, which was the warmest and best environment due to the dome stadium.
As Lee Jung-hoo’s joining of Kiwoom Spring Camp failed, the last home game against the Samsung Lions in October last year became the last scene they played together. Lee Jung-hoo is a franchise star represented by Kiwoom. After graduating from Seo Seok Elementary School, Hwimoon Middle School, and Hwimoon High School in Gwangju, he joined Nexen as the first draft pick in 2017 and made a name for himself from his first year of debut. He won the KBO League Rookie of the Year award, which his father did not even do, with a batting average of 0.324 (179 hits in 552) with two homers, 47 RBIs, 111 runs and 12 steals in 144 games, and an on-base hit rate of 0.317. Since then, he has been moving to the right every year in various batting indicators, and peaked in 2022 by winning the regular season MVP with a batting average of 0.349 (193 hits in 553 at-bats) with 23 homers, 113 RBIs, 85 runs and an OPS of 0.996. Last year, he ended the season three months earlier due to an injury, but he showed a career KBO league record of batting average of 0.340 (1181 hits in 3,476) with 65 homers, 515 RBIs, 69 runs scored, and an OPS of 0.898.
Based on such performances, the team signed a six-year, 113 million-dollar contract with San Francisco in December last year. While continuing its reputation as a Major League Baseball academy, Kiwoom, its original team, also collected 18.825 million dollars in compensation under the KBO baseball regulations in 2023. This is the highest amount since the revision of the current regulations in 2018, and after the 25.737,737 dollars that Ryu Hyun-jin (37) paid to the Hanwha Eagles when he joined the LA Dodgers in 2013.
Even after becoming a member of San Francisco, Lee showed his affection for his family to the fullest. “I think I benefited from (Kim) Ha-sung’s good work since last year,” Lee Jung-hoo said in an interview back home after signing the contract. I can’t ruin what you did so well. I want to continue to work hard and leave a good perception of Korean baseball players, and that will create a way for many players to challenge. I will work hard with responsibility,” Lee said. “I think (a lot of compensation) will also help Kiwoom. I’m doing well enough now, but I hope you spend more for the players.”