The Hanwha Eagles failed to enter the fall baseball league again this year. The disappointing year is coming to an end as they failed to advance to the postseason for six consecutive years from 2019, but it is not without income.
In the top-tier Korean baseball league, Kim garnered 41 wins, 42 losses and 1 draw (winning rate of .494), which was close to 0.50 percent, and continued to fight for the top-tier Korean baseball until early this month. Under Kim, the team saw a formidable rise as its pitching positions were rearranged and fielders were able to compete. It is a significant development in its own right that Hanwha continued its autumn baseball fight even after 120 games.
The second-tier Futures team also revealed its future. The Hanwha Futures team, led by head coach Lee Dae-jin, confirmed its victory in the Futures Northern League regardless of the remaining games on the 21st. With four games left in the remaining season, the team won with 56 wins, 41 losses and 2 draws (winning rate .577), beating the second-place SSG (49 wins, 48 losses, winning rate .505) by six games.
Hanwha won the Northern League title for the third consecutive year after winning 63 wins and 33 losses and 2 draws and .656 wins in 2022 and last year (48 wins, 40 losses and 3 draws and .545 wins). It is the first time for the Hanwha Futures team to win the title for the third consecutive year.
In the pitching field, rookie Cho Dong-wook started all 11 games and pitched 49 ⅔ innings, gaining experience with 3-1 and 3.81 ERA. After the first-team call-up, he helped the team by moving beyond the starting lineup.
In addition, Yoon Dae-kyung made 17 saves in the league, keeping the back door firmly with a 1.77 ERA. After recovering from elbow surgery and rehabilitation, Kim Jong-soo, who returned from elbow surgery and rehabilitation, made a healthy announcement by harvesting the league’s most 10 holds, while Bae Dong-hyun, who is in his fourth year of discharge from Sangmu, also showed rapid growth with 23 games (27 ⅓ innings) with one earned run and an earned run average of 0.33.
Fireballer Kim Seo-hyun, who was suffering from poor ball control until the middle of the season, also grew up to become a must-winner for the first team in the second half of the season after spending time with the Futures team. Lee Sang-kyu also prepared for 22 games (24 ⅔ innings) with 2 wins, 1 loss, 3 saves, 4 holds and an ERA of 3.28, before adding new strength to the mound for the first team in the second half.
On the fielders’ side, outfielder Lim Jong-chan played a batting average of 286 (76 hits in 266) in 79 games with 12 home runs and 79 RBIs. He displayed his decisive power by exploding double-digit home runs and ranking first in RBIs in the Futures League. 토토사이트Returning from Sangmu, catcher Heo In-seo showed batting skills with a batting average of 27 (76 hits in 282) and 11 home runs and 56 RBIs in 89 games with an OPS of 793.
In addition, outfielder Euro Gyeol played a batting average of 321 (72 for 224) in 64 games, five home runs, 40 RBIs and 10 steals OPS.869, and infielder Jung Eun-won played a batting average of 296 (56 for 189) in 60 games, with three home runs and 27 RBIs and OPS.845. Song Ho-jung, a rising shortstop who returned from his military service as an active player, had a batting average of 322 in 30 games (28 for 87) with seven RBIs and nine steals, and Jeong An-seok, a rookie who joined as an infielder, changed his position to an outfielder and gained experience with a batting average of 2339 in 67 games (43 for 180), three home runs, 20 RBIs and nine steals.
Outfielder Jang Jin-hyuk, who is in the first division, also went through a steady preparation process for the Futures team from the spring camp to the beginning of the season, and outfielder Kwon Kwang-min, who has recently been active in the first division, also did not have a good performance in the Futures, but his preparation for not giving up is paying off.
It is all the more meaningful in that young players have gained experience by baseball, which wins while properly supplying players to the first team. The victory of the Futures for the third consecutive year can be seen as the result of Hanwha’s complete establishment of its nurturing system. LG also won the title last year with several players, including pitchers Son Joo-young, Yoo Young-chan, infielder Moon Bo-kyung, Shin Min-jae, and outfielder Moon Sung-joo, who grew up in the process of winning the Futures Northern League for two consecutive years from 2020 to 2021. It is time for Hanwha to also use the Futures players as the first team players next year.
Lee Dae-jin, head coach of Hanwha Futures, who led the team to the championship in his first year in office, said, “It is the role of the Futures team to develop young and capable players well to become players who can play in the first team,” adding, “Winning or losing in Futures is not as important as the first team, but I think I was able to win with many wins because good players are growing well.”
