Samsung, a professional baseball team, is preparing for its first fall in three years. It extinguished the second-place magic number by winning the match against Kiwoom held at Daegu Samsung Lions Park on the 22nd. Although it failed to prevent KIA from winning the pennant race, it instantly washed away the pain of being in the bottom ranks for two consecutive seasons by winning a direct ticket to the postseason playoff (PO, best out of five).스포츠토토
This year, Samsung did not have warm eyes. They were at the bottom of the forecast list of many experts. Samsung was not on the list of the top five players. There was no clear reinforcement in its performance that had ranked eighth in the 2023 season. As David Buchanan’s renewal of contract failed, even the lineup of foreigners was replaced. As there were many question marks, there was a lot of anxiety.
The Lionesses opened the lid differently. With the foreign duo of Conor Seabold-Denny Reyes and stable starters led by Won Tae-in, the ace of blue blood, they have achieved stellar performance. The batters are also exquisitely powerful. Starting with Koo Ja-wook (33), who has become a batter with 30 home runs, Kim Young-woong (26), Lee Sung-kyu (21), Kang Min-ho and Park Byung-ho (19) have crossed the fence in succession. With a meaningful record of being the top home run player in the team (180), the lineup has been established that no one can ignore.
Where is the secret? When this reporter met him after finishing second, Park Jin-man said with a relaxed smile, “There were many up-and-coming players including Kim Ji-chan, Kim Jae-hyun and Kim Young-woong. It was an unexpected achievement.” “Who knew that (Kim) Young-woong would hit such a home run?” with a big smile and boasted of his students.
“(Koo) Ja-wook, (Kang) Min-ho, and (Park) Byeong-ho, who came in the middle, all played their roles. Players like Lee Sung-kyu and Yoon Jung-bin also received attention this year. As everything was harmonized as a whole, it had a great ripple effect,” he said. “Although there were some departures from the middle, it is also because the rotation of the starting pitchers continued to work well. The starting pitchers threw well, but what would have been the role of the coach?” he added with a hearty laugh.
“There is no such thing as ‘I made a good choice or anything. The players prepared so well’ and maintained humility until the very end, but Park nodded at Samsung’s “spring.” Samsung’s spring camp in Okinawa, Japan, has been famous for its “hellish training” since last year when coach Park Jin-man officially took the helm. The uniforms of the players who kept shouting for joy were always covered with dirt that was hard to shake off.
“Players exercised a lot in the camp. They ran a lot and sweated a lot,” the coach said. “Listening to a lot of lower rank evaluations gave me a lot of motivation. That’s why I played harder. They put what they prepared back then into good use in the season,” he said. “I think the new players came up like this thanks to that training. They also gained a lot of stability in defense.”
“When I was training hard, people around me asked me when I should play baseball. In practice games, I was criticized for losing almost all games. However, through that time, young players gained experience and gained competitive edge,” he said.
The emphasis on basic skills and the fruit of fierce training day and night transformed the eighth-ranked team into the second-ranked team. Now all eyes are on Samsung’s fall. Three years ago, Doosan suffered a painful upset as it lost two consecutive games in the PO. It has to be different this time. The Korean team is committed to advancing to the Korean Series for the first time in nine years and winning the championship for the first time in 10 years.