It was December last year. Park Chan-ho (29) of Kia, who has evolved from offense and defense to becoming a top shortstop for two consecutive years, visited the Golden Glove Awards. Only the most promising players are coming to the ceremony, and Park said, “I want to congratulate them.”
The results were not dissimilar to Park’s expectations. LG Twins’ captain Oh Ji-hwan has won the Shortstop Golden Glove for the second consecutive year. Park congratulated Oh from the bottom of his heart, and Oh thanked him. He also promised to find a place to celebrate even if the positions of himself and Park Chan-ho change a year later.핑크알바
It was a moment when Park had a clear goal. Faced with this season, he said, “I have been eyeing the golden glove. I am keeping my promise.” He has a batting average of 0.304 with 14 steals. He has already achieved his career-high batting average and double-digit stolen bases for three consecutive years. As a shortstop whose defense is important, he continues to display stellar defense to erase hits.
With the end of the season, however, Park’s goal changed. Park played a critical role in the game against LG Electronics at Jamsil Stadium on Sunday local time, hitting a sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning. When his team was losing 0-2, Park hit a double as the first batter in the top of the ninth inning to score the starting point for a counterattack and even recorded the finishing hit. It was not exaggerating to say that Park started with Park Chan-ho and ended with Park Chan-ho.
KIA Tigers pitcher Park Chan-ho looks at the ball after hitting an RBI sacrifice fly against LG pitcher Baek Seung-hyun in the top of the 10th inning with one out and runners on 1-3 in the 2024 KBO League game held at Jamsil Stadium on the 10th. 2024. 7. 10. Jamsil | Reporter Park Jin-up upandup@sportsseoul.com
After the game, Park emphasized that he changed his mind. “I am not thinking about my personal image anymore. More important than my personal image is coming up,” Park said. “I have to spend 20 years professional career at the most. However, I don’t think it is easy to have the capacity to win a championship like this year for the past 20 years. Personally, it is my first chance to win a championship in baseball.”
“I don’t want to miss this chance. I don’t know when I will meet these teammates again. That’s why I have nothing but victory in my mind. I am focusing more on winning than on my individual performance and title,” he said, stressing his team’s victory.
So, he didn’t mind the batting order of No. 9. This season, he mostly played as the No. 1 hitter, but changed his batting order to No. 9, but remains unchanged.
“I think he is showing his best performance as a cleanup hitter these days,” Park said, smiling. “Playing No. 9 naturally leads me to focus on defense. Maybe because the lineup came late, I get to play defense with confidence. To be honest, there are so many batters who are better than me. Even if my batting average is 30%, there are so many batters who are good at it that I don’t feel that I am good at it. So I focus on defense and play with the mindset that offense is a bonus.”
In other words, the real goal is to win the title at the biggest stage. “I don’t know how it feels to be a big game everywhere KIA goes, but I feel great to have so many fans here and my concentration improves. Looking back, I think I did a good job in a game where many spectators came,” he said. “The only big game I have played so far is wild card. It will be different this year,” he said.