“I can’t have someone tap my butt forever.”
‘Genius shortstop’ Kim Jae-ho (38) cannot be neglected in nurturing a starting shortstop just because he was dropped from the first team. Rather, it is coach Lee Seung-yeop who uses this as an opportunity to instill greater responsibility and a sense of ownership in young players who are aiming for the next starting shortstop.
On the 5th, the Doosan Bears excluded veteran shortstop Kim Jae-ho and rookie pitcher Kim Yoo-seong from the first team entry. Instead, pitchers Lee Hyeong-beom and Park Jeong-soo were called up, reducing one infielder and adding one pitcher. At the time, coach Lee said, “I should have missed one beast, but veteran Kim Jae-ho made the sacrifice. It was an inevitable choice considering the direction our team should go in the future.”
Kim Jae-ho, who signed a free agent contract for 3 years and 2.5 billion won prior to the 2021 season, called for an assistant referee at the Australian spring camp Seocheolchi in the final year of his contract, but suffered from a sluggish batting average of 1.14, 3 runs, 2 RBIs in 11 games of the season. Off the field, he served as a role model for his juniors and helped train infielders, but eventually fell victim to reinforcing the mound and spent at least 10 days in Icheon, not Jamsil.
Perfect rebuilding is only completed when veterans pass on their rich experience and know-how to their juniors. Kim Jae-ho is called a genius shortstop and won the Shortstop Golden Glove for two consecutive years in 2015 and 2016. He also has an inaccessible career of 1656 games in the first team and 4909 plate appearances. Thanks to this, Kim Jae-ho signed an FA contract for a total of 5 billion won for 4 years prior to the 2017 season and a total of 2.5 billion won for 3 years after the 2020 season.
Director Lee Seung-yeop, who we met in Jamsil on the 6th, said, “I have a lot of concerns because Kim Jae-ho is missing. Even if he doesn’t go to the game, he helped a lot during practice, but there are no players who play that role. In our team, the second baseman and shortstop positions are the weakest.”
However, the reins of rebuilding cannot be relaxed without Kim Jae-ho. Doosan must somehow find their next starting shortstop before he retires or his contract expires. In a way, ten days without Kim Jae-ho can be a time for young shortstops to develop their self-reliance. In Doosan, Yoo-chan Lee and Min-jae Jeon are taking turns gaining experience at the shortstop position.스포츠토토
The command tower demanded the mental arming of those left behind. The ultimate goal of young infielders is to succeed Kim Jae-ho as Doosan’s starting shortstop. Coach Lee said, “Of course, there may be problems, but young players are also professional players, so they shouldn’t be pampered. He should not think that he is young, but he should have the idea of being the center and have more responsibility, motivation, and greed. He left a firm message, saying, “I can’t have someone tap my butt forever.”