Song Sung-moon (28) of the Kiwoom Heroes in professional baseball has revealed his secret to his amazing performance this year.스포츠토토
Song Sung-moon started the game against the Samsung Lions in the “2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League” at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 28th and recorded two hits, one home run, two RBIs, two runs and one stolen base in five at-bats. He played by shooting his 17th home run of the season, but Kiwoom lost 5-9.
Song Sung-moon, who joined the Nexen Heroes as a fifth-round pick (49th) in the second round of the 2015 rookie draft, has a batting average of 273 (607 hits in 2225 at-bats) in 658 games in the KBO league with 52 home runs, 351 RBIs, 290 runs, 22 steals, and OPS.737. Until last year, he had disappointing performance that did not meet expectations, but this year he is enjoying his best season ever.
Song is achieving career-high performance this season by posting a batting average of 341 (from 149 hits in 437 times at bat) in 120 games with 17 homers, 91 RBIs, 71 runs, 17 steals, and OPS.926. He is also targeting his first 20-20 club since debuting this season with a 20 home run-20 steal pace.
In an interview on Sunday, Song said, “I want to be a steady player. I want to be a player with a higher batting average, not a player with a calculated batting average in the mid-20s. Many people around me ask me to aim for the 20-20 club. Personally, I think this may be the last chance in my life. However, baseball is not up to me. When it comes to home runs, the real opponent has to throw a real pitch and my batting balance has to be good. It is not something you can hit with luck. I will dream about myself,” expressing his ambition to achieve the 20 home runs and 20 steals for the first time since his debut.
Song Sung-moon, who has been consistently performing without a major slump this year, said, “There were times when I was in a bit of a crisis this year. Still, until last year, if it didn’t seem to be enough, I changed this and that and made a lot of minor changes, but this year, I don’t think the up-and-down is too much because there are parts where I believe in myself and continue to push forward. Until last year, I tried so many changes. Then, coach Oh Yoon, the hitting coaches, and colleagues around me said a lot that they wanted me to trust and continue. Still, there was a part where I didn’t trust myself, but I think it was good for me that coach Heo Moon-hoe helped me a lot in the off-season.”
Former coach Huh Moon-hoi served as the hitting coach and head coach for Kiwoom from 2013 to 2019. He is one of the leaders who has been watching Song’s growth since he joined the team. “There were times when I couldn’t even go to the closing camp in the past,” Song said, “I just visited during the offseason and practiced (with former coach Huh Moon-hoi).” It was a bit of a tough position for me. It was just when (Lee) Jung-hoo and (Kim) Hye-sung joined the team. There were a lot of good infielders. Then coach Huh Moon-hoi was the coach for the stay-at-home team, and with the help, he was able to play in the first team little by little from 2017 and did a little better in 2018. He has such a grateful memory. It didn’t go well after I was discharged from the military, so I asked for help once,” he said.
[OSEN= Reporter Goh Chok, Lee Dae-sun] The “2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League” Kiwoom Heroes and the Samsung Lions played at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the afternoon of the 28th. Kiwoom started Jongmin Lee and Samsung started Lee Seung-min. Kiwoom Song Sung-moon hit a superior solo home run at first base in the bottom of the fifth inning and is celebrated by Kim Hye-sung at home. 2024.08.28 /sunday@osen.co.kr
Song Sung-moon said, “I can’t work out with my team coaches during the off-season, so I thought it would be better to get help from people around me than to work out alone. I think it’s right to go to the coach who improved a lot when I was young, so I started getting help from coach Heo Moon-hoe last year. If I wasn’t a little sure last year, I feel like I did well this year to fit my body,” he said. “I don’t contact you particularly during the season. Coach Oh Yoon is really good at catching the parts where I go a little wrong during the season. He is a great help because he points out the small changes or things that I can’t do. It’s not just on my own that there’s no slump this year,” he added.
Will Song, who is spending the best season constantly working hard with his old leader, be able to achieve his dream of 20 homers and 20 steals for the first time since his debut? Now, Kiwoom has 22 more games to play.