Doosan veteran shortstop Kim Jae-ho (38), who is facing the final year of his contract, is working on spring camp with the mindset of a rookie. He is trying to regain his original intention in order to shake off the regrets of the past two years and receive applause from the fans again.
Kim Jae-ho, who signed a second FA contract with Doosan in January 2021 for 3 years and 2.5 billion won. Time passed and the final year of his contract came. His performances over the past two years have been below expectations. In the first year of his contract renewal, he was sluggish with a batting average of 2.1 5 Lee in 102 games, following a batting average of 2.9 Lee in 89 games, and suffered from controversy over “eating and running”. For two years, more than half of his contract period, he went through a slump with a batting average of .
Kim Jae-ho, whom I met at the spring camp in Sydney, Australia, said, “I’ve been a senior for the past two years, so it’s true that I’ve had these thoughts, ‘Let’s do it slowly’ and ‘Let’s save ourselves.’ He said, “I’m trying to erase that part myself. Since I’m a senior, I can’t move slowly. Now I have to move more than my younger friends. If you do that, you can barely keep up. I had been working hard for a while, so I had the mind to take it easy, but naturally my stamina dropped.”
The awakened Kim Jae-ho started exercising before the spring camp for a splendid finale. He said, “It doesn’t really feel like it’s the last year of his contract. “It’s the same as usual,” he said, “but I’m preparing a little more. Since the second half of last year, he hasn’t played much, so he had a lot of time to prepare. He wants to do well this year. No, you have to do well,” he said, conveying his changed mindset.
Jaeho Kim is called the standard of leading by example in this camp. He stands in the first line during warm-up and shouts “fighting” more than anyone else, and does not spare his body during defensive training, just as genius shortstops did in the past. He is shedding more sweat than anyone else to turn his booing over the past two years into applause.
Kim Jae-ho said, “I am going back to the beginning and doing his workout. He has been having pain in his shoulder and back for the past few years and now he has no pain. However, he laughed and said, “I don’t fall back just because I’m older now, maybe because I’m older. If I move from the front and shout Fighting, the juniors will naturally do it,” he explained.
Kim Jae-ho also revealed the story of apologizing to his juniors at the club dinner last year. He said, “I told my juniors that I was sorry for falling behind last year. He should have said something bitter and praised for the juniors and for the team, but he admitted he couldn’t do that part. Starting this year, I promised that I would take the lead, say bitter words, and help the team come together. We are working hard to put it into practice,” he said. 메이저사이트
For Kim Jae-ho, the 2023 season is never over. His contract expires, but if he regains his appearance as a genius shortstop in his final year, he will consider extending his active career. However, first of all, it is necessary to wash away the regrets of the past two years and regain the trust of Doosan fans.
Kim Jae-ho said, “My first life is baseball, and everyone will have a desire to live that life for a long time. I am like that too,” he said. “I’ve been booed by people a lot for the past two years, but now I want to go while receiving a lot of cheers. working hard for that I want to create a season that is cheered by all Doosan fans this year. I will try without regrets,” he promised to rebound.