To Lee Jae-won (25, Sangmu), the big boy of Jamsil, the Futures League was tight. Although he played only half of the season, he showed off his strong batting performance to the extent that he competed for home run champion.
The 2024 KBO Futures League opened on March 26 and ended its grand finale on October 5.
The 2024 KBO Futures League was divided into two leagues: Nambu (Sangju Baseball Team, KT Wiz, Samsung Lions, NC Dinos, Lotte Giants, KIA Tigers) and Bukbu (Hanwha, SSG, LG Twins, Doosan Bears, and Goyang Heroes).
In the Southern League, Sangmu led by Coach Park Chi-wang has ranked No. 1 for 13 consecutive years since 2012. In the Northern League led by Lee Dae-jin, Hanwha beat second-ranked SSG by nine games to win the title for the third consecutive year following last year.
Sangmu, who had only 39 team home runs in 87 games last year (2023), showed off his hot “homer factory” with 83 home runs in 98 games (second in the south and 84 home runs in 102 games in the first place NC).
At the center of the performance were Park Jung-hyun (0.313 16 home runs and 66 RBIs), who won two Southern League titles in home runs and RBIs, and Lee Jae-won (0.292 14 home runs and 42 RBIs), who ranked third in home runs.
In particular, Lee Jae-won, who joined the military in June and has played for Sangmu since July 19th, showed his strength in hitting a batting average of 0.321 (42 hits in 131 at-bats) with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs in 37 games. Including the game he played when he was at LG, he showed tremendous home run productivity, with only about half of his teammate Park Jung-hyun (396 at-bats in 91 games), who is the home run king of the Southern League, with 14 home runs in 50 games (206 at-bats). 메이저사이트
Lee Jae-won, who graduated from Seoul High School and wore the LG uniform as the 17th pick in the second round of the 2018 rookie draft, made his debut in the first division in 2020 and recorded five home runs in 62 games in 2021, revealing his “big shot potential.”
Lee Jae-won, who clearly showed the expected shot with a batting average of 0.224 with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs in 85 games in 2022, applied to Sangmu after the end of the season, but changed his direction to continue his challenge for another season in 2023 at the suggestion of newly appointed manager Yeom Kyung-yeop.
However, he was held back by injuries at every crisis, such as a side injury ahead of the opening of the 2023 season, and recorded only 0.214 four home runs and 18 RBIs in 57 games. Lee Jae-won, who felt regret for failing to enter the Korean Series after falling behind Kim Bum-seok, applied to Sangmu again and passed, and joined the military in June and finished the 2024 season showing off his potential as much as he could.
