“What if I say I can’t…”
NC Dinos coach Lee Ho-joon plans to have a meal with veterans soon. Already, they met with individual veterans separately to exchange greetings and share future plans. In particular, meeting with Son was meaningful. 안전놀이터
Manager Lee Ho-joon plans to rotate the designated hitter rotation in the 2025 season. The former coach effectively appointed Son Ah-seop as the designated hitter for the past two years. However, the designated hitter also has disadvantages such as difficulty in maintaining physical strength of his team’s main pillars and not expanding the scope of management of players in the first division. In the modern baseball league, the designated hitter should have overwhelming attack power.
It was Lee Ho-joon’s plan to persuade Son through his first solo meeting with Son. He had a lot of worries. “I was worried if he told me, ‘Please take a look at me. I can’t defend anymore,'” Lee said. It was Ki-woo. Lee Ho-joon didn’t even have to persuade him. Son prefers to play defense.
Coach Lee Ho-joon said, “It was unexpected. They said it doesn’t matter whether it’s left or right. They said it doesn’t matter if I don’t have to be a designated hitter. I will prepare well for defense and play defense next year, and they said thank you.” He added, “I’m a player who can make 3,000 hits in the future. As long as I’m healthy, I can continue to do well, and I ended the game warmly.”
Son Ah-seop also said after coach Lee Ho-joon’s inauguration ceremony on the 31st of last month, “I had never played designated hitter before 2023. He played more than 1,000 innings of defense every year until 2022. Since there were players with better defense than me in terms of team composition from 2023, I felt that the team needed to be a designated hitter to win. For the first time in 2023, the proportion of designated hitters has risen. The proportion of designated hitters has been high over the past two years.”
In fact, Son ranked sixth in outfield defense innings with 1,056 ⅔ innings in 2020 when he was with the Lotte Giants. He ranked third in 2019 with 1,066 ⅔ innings, seventh in 2018 with 1,068 ⅔ innings, second in 2017 with 1210 ⅓ innings, and second in 2016 with 1,189 innings. When he was with the Lotte Giants, he played a lot of defense.
Son Ah-seop said, “As you can see from the records, I ranked first and second in innings every season. There is no pressure on defense at all. I am not a good defensive player, but I will do my best every moment. I don’t have to do more than I can, and if I do as much as I can, I think it will help the coach run the season.”
Knee health is the most important thing for Son to play defense as much as in previous years. Son injured his posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while playing defense against Changwon SSG Landers on July 4. He returned at the end of the season, but was not in normal physical condition. He continued his rehabilitation after the end of the season and entered the final stage. At this point, he doesn’t seem to have to worry too much about his physical condition.
