Kiwoom Heroes will have to play the 2024 season without Lee Jung-hoo (26, San Francisco Giants), who has been the team’s star for the past seven years (2017-2023 season). With his absence of a batting average of 0.340 (1181 hits in 3,476 times at bat), 65 home runs, 515 RBIs and a 0.407 on-base percentage, it seems inevitable that his power will weaken. Last season, Lee Jung-hoo also collapsed significantly during the period when he left due to an ankle injury (July 23 to October 2) with 16 wins, 1 draw and 34 losses (winning rate of 0.277). 마카오토토주소
Lee Jung-hoo’s departure is painful. However, it is not an unexpected absence. Kiwoom has been preparing for Lee Jung-hoo since he announced his advance to the Major League ahead of last season. As a result, there is no big problem in establishing a lineup with the batters he currently has.
Key players are Kim Hye-sung (25) who posted a batting average of 0.335, seven homers and 57 RBIs in 137 games last season. “It was regrettable that the team’s performance in 2023 was not good,” he said, while preparing for the 2024 season by constantly training during the inactive period. Ronnie Dawson (29), who joined the team as an alternative foreign hitter with a batting average of 0.336, three homers and 29 RBIs, and Lee Ju-hyung (23), who showed off his potential with a batting average of 0.326, six homers and 36 RBIs in 69 games after being traded to Choi Won-tae (LG Twins), will also contribute greatly.
Joining Choi Joo-hwan (36), who was selected as the first overall pick in the second draft in November last year, is the biggest change. He had a batting average of only 0.235 last season when he was a member of SSG Landers, but he had 20 home runs (63 RBIs). Kiwoom, which had the lowest number of home runs (61) last year, deserves high expectations.
As the team has abundant resources, internal competition is expected to be even fiercer. Kim Hwi-jip (22), who hit the most eight home runs in his team last year, and veteran players including Lee Won-seok (37), Song Seong-moon (28), Kim Tae-jin (29), and Lee Yong-gyu (39) are also desperately striving to find the best combination. The challenge is to find the best combination through the spring camp.
