Home runs are the essence of baseball’s technology. It is a very special event where you have to strengthen your batting and make the ball fly at the right timing. As it is a difficult technique, it naturally takes a long time to make a homerun batter. Many of the big guns representing the league were like that.
The team also needs patience. Paradoxically, making a single home run batter requires numerous strikeouts. We should be able to endure and wait a time when such strikeouts are pouring out, which is also not easy in the KBO League environment where all 10 teams are running based on their performance. His eyes on Han Dong-hee (25) and Lee Jae-won (25) who started serving in the military side by side were also somewhere between cheering and frustrating.
Both players received high expectations from the club and are still receiving high expectations. Han Dong-hee, who graduated from Kyungnam High School and received the first nomination from Lotte in 2018, is a player who has been nicknamed the “second Lee Dae-ho.” Lee Jae-won, who graduated from Seoul High School and was nominated by LG in the second round in 2018, is also nicknamed the “Big Boy in Jamsil.” Both players were evaluated as top-class players in terms of power in high school, and their stellar potential to grow into home run hitters in professional leagues has drawn attention.
However, it took her a long time to grow up. Having stood out first, Han played 87 games in 2018 and 59 games in 2019, adapting to the first team stage. In 2020, he became the starting player in 135 games and hit 17 home runs, showing off his potential. Having hit 17 home runs each in 2020 and 2021, Han recorded a batting average of 0.307 in 129 games in 2022, showing improvement in his batting average as well. However, his goal of catching both batting average and long balls was wasted and the graph was broken.
The 2023 season, which started with ambition, ended with poor performance with a batting average of 0.223 and five home runs in 108 games. Eventually, he decided to join the military athletic unit in the middle of the 2024 season. He hoped to make some achievements in the first half, but even that was not possible due to his injury. Lotte filled in Han Dong-hee’s vacancy with a trade transfer named Son Ho-young, who slightly forgot her name.
Lee Jae-won, who bombed the Futures League, has been expected to garner slugging capability in the first division every year since 2021. He hit 13 home runs in 85 games in 2022, showing off his innate power. When he hit the ball, it was a bullet, and the homerun drew the speed and distance of the Major League-class batting. LG fans who had not seen a native slugger for a long time were excited by his power to easily cross the Jamsil fence. However, Lee Jae-won disappointed by his batting average of 0.214 and four home runs in 57 games in 2023, when he expected his team to expand further. He then joined the club Sangmu with Han Dong-hee.
It was a military issue that had to be resolved anyway. It could be an opportunity for the two players. The Futures League apparently puts less pressure on their performances than the first team. In this situation, players can only concentrate on exercising. Players who are around the age of Han Dong-hee and Lee Jae-won can have time to improve their skills by doing whatever they can at Sangmu. Even after being discharged from the military, they are in their mid-20s. There is a great future ahead of them. Fortunately, the two players played well at Sangmu after joining the military.
In 42 Futures League games this year, Han had a batting average of 0.323, 11 homers, 38 RBIs, and 1.006 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). He also had a record in Lotte’s second division before joining the military, but his performance after joining the military is much more attractive. Lee Jae-won also showed off his strength by batting .292, 14 homers, 42 RBIs and 1.032 OPS in 50 Futures League games. In the last 10 games, he had a batting average of 0.333 and four homers, making it clear that he has nothing to prove in the Futures League.
Even if it is the Futures League, expectations are high that it will become a better player and discharge from the military if it plays a stable game without injury for one season next year. Playing in the first team, the two players know themselves what they lack, and now they have to solve the problem through self-study. One can also expect the lightheartedness that completion of military service gives. Although there are regrets about the process before joining the military, they do not have expectations. This is another key point to watch for next year’s Futures League. 스포츠토토
