The KBO League has decided to revive the existing 2nd draft system from 2023. The Futures League (second group) players, more strictly speaking, the ‘Futures FA’ system to guarantee the free transfer of ‘1.5 group’ players disappears after a short lifespan amid controversy over its effectiveness.
However, it left a last legacy before disappearing. These are the two outfielders who moved the team by exercising this qualification side by side. Coincidentally, all of them were produced by LG. Lee Hyeong-jong (34‧Kiwoom) and Han Seok-hyun (29‧NC), who seldom got a chance to play in LG’s thick outfield, are the main characters. They chose a kind of adventure to change their uniforms in search of an opportunity.
Lee Hyeong-jong was also well treated. After receiving an authoritative interpretation that futures free agents can also sign multi-year contracts, several teams competed for bids. In the end, he signed a contract with Kiwoom for a total of 2 billion won over 4 years. It was a much better contract than most ‘first-team free agents’ players. It is even evaluated that it is better than the first-team free agent with a compensation barrier because it is a futures free agent that does not need to give compensation players. Han Seok-hyun, who had quite a few clubs he wanted, also joined NC for 39 million won.
Kiwoom hoped that Lee Hyeong-jong would become a player who could add offensive power to every other line. It was Kiwoom that went to the Korean Series last year, but it definitely had a downside that the overall offensive power was poor except for some key players. That was the case in the bottom batting order 6-9. I thought Hyung-Jong Lee, who had a 0.278 KBO League career batting average with one-hit long-running power, would help overall offense.
The same was true of Han Seok-hyun, one of the best hitters in the Futures League. NC was in an opaque situation with Lee Myung-gi and Kwon Hee-dong, who eventually entered the market after obtaining FA qualification at the time. Along with the existing players, new resources were needed to protect the outfield. Han Seok-hyun was the player I had in mind from the beginning. It was to the extent that Han Seok-hyun chose the sincerity of the club as the background for choosing NC among many teams. Some viewed it as the best signing of the offseason.
However, the start of the new team is not so good. It is still early in the season, so it is obviously unreasonable to determine the success of the recruitment. However, it seems clear that the situation is gradually becoming more and more pressured. The stage of talking about the adjustment period in the new team has passed. Now you have to show your performance gradually.스포츠토토
Lee Hyeong-jong was given a relatively large number of chances, 146 at-bats in 35 games until the 16th. However, he has a batting average of 0.234. In some matches, he has performed heroically, but his overall performance is less stable. He’s hit a fair number of doubles, but he still only has one home run, and his OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of .683 is below the league average (.694). It is evaluated that he is not showing the level expected in defense.
Han Seok-hyun’s batting average is 0.218 in 25 games of the season. In the first place, since he is not a big shot type player, the priority was to show hit production in terms of batting average, but this is not working well at the beginning of the season. His on-base percentage (.271) is not much different from his batting average. He also struck out 17 while he walked four. Here, Kwon Hee-dong, who signed a contract late, added his strength in earnest, and as foreign hitter Martin returned from injury, the chances to play are gradually decreasing. He has to find clues quickly.