“It’s running very well.”
Hanwha Eagles coach Kim Kyung-moon, who was recently leading autumn training at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon, smiled at the catcher’s story.
Park Sang-eon (27), Jang Kyu-hyun (22), and Heo In-seo (21) are training in the Phoenix Education League in Japan, while Heo Kwan-hoe (25), Kwon Hyun (19), Lee Seung-hyeon (19), and Han Ji-yoon (18) are playing in Daejeon along with Choi Jae-hoon (35) and Lee Jae-won (36), who played in the first division this season. An Jin-yi is sweating profusely at Seosan Futures Stadium. “I have plenty of throws,” Kim said with a smile.
The Hanwha Eagles announced Wednesday their contract with Kazunari Tsuruoka, 47. Tsuruoka was the battery coach for the DeNA BayStars 2nd division in Yokohama, Japan, this season.
He made his debut in Yokohama in 2000 and remained active until 2016. Although he mainly played for Yokohama, he also played for the Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers, and appeared in 719 games with a batting average of 235.467 points and 140 RBIs with an OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 0.624.
It wasn’t spectacular in batting, but it has been highly scored for its stable defensive ability as a backup catcher.
After his retirement, he served as the Chiba Lotte Marines’ second-tier battery coach and Yokohama’s first-tier and second-tier battery coach.
Hanwha explained the background of the recruitment, saying, “Coach Tsuruoka is expected to help foster the main catcher who will succeed Choi Jae-hoon and Lee Jae-won through guidance that combines the advanced baseball system for young catchers on the Futures team.”
Although he called for “end of rebuilding” this season, he still has the task of changing the generation for the catcher position. The reason for recruiting Lee Jae-won, who requested voluntary release from SSG last year, may also be a first-team catcher, but there was also a hope that the experience of leading to the championship would be delivered to young players.
Choi Jae-hoon and Lee Jae-won are both in their late 30s. Park Sang-eon, who played in 213 matches including 86 matches last year, is in his mid-20s, while the rest are in his early 20s. Han Ji-yoon, who was selected as the third round player in the rookie draft, also aims to secure good catcher resources to prepare for the next generation. 메이저놀이터
Coach Tsuruoka was given the task of developing Hanwha’s young catcher with abundant potential to the next level.
Meanwhile, Hanwha announced the recruitment of coach Tsuruoka and announced, “We have decided not to renew the contract with Future Pitcher Coach Myle Young and battery coach Lee Hee-geun.”
