The status has changed dramatically in just one year. This is the story of Lotte Giants second-year outfielder Yoon Dong-hee.메이저사이트
Dong-Hee Yoon appeared in four first-team games last year, recording just 2 hits in 13 at-bats, a batting average of 1.544, 1 RBI, and 1 run. He has become an indispensable figure at Lotte this year. As of the 10th, he has played in 93 games and has a batting average of .302 (100 hits in 331 at-bats), 2 home runs, 35 RBIs, 39 runs, and 1 stolen base. He hit his first triple-digit hit in his debut and is on the verge of entering the regulation at-bat.
Dong-hee Yoon, who is having a career-high season this season, grinned and said, “Actually, I don’t really care about the number of plate appearances in regulation. I would be lying if I said I didn’t care about my records. Even if I’m curious, I don’t look up the records and only look them up when I do well.”
How did he feel when he went back and forth with a batting average of .300? He answered, “I don’t often look at the electronic display when I step into the batter’s box, but without even realizing it, I was looking at the batting average on the electronic display. Now, I don’t think I should look at the electronic display, so I don’t worry about it and just do it comfortably.”
Before this season, Dong-Hee Yoon’s first goal was to stay in the first team longer than last year, and he achieved it early. He is aiming for 120 hits, surpassing his first 100 hits in his debut. He stated the reason: “There must be a goal for progress.”
We asked Dong-hee Yoon what kind of person Kim Min-seok is, the ‘super rookie’. He answered, “We have shared ups and downs and live together. If Minseok wasn’t there, this season wouldn’t have gone so well, and being with Minseok seems to create a synergy effect.”
Dong-hee Yoon continued, “Min-seok is younger than me, but we are as close as friends. It’s really important to me to have someone I can comfortably have personal conversations with even off the field.”
On the 29th of last month, the KBO held a Strengthening Committee (Chairman Cho Gye-hyeon) and confirmed a list of 62 reserve players for the national team to participate in the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) 2023, which will be held at Tokyo Dome in Japan in November.
The Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) 2023, which is now in its second year after the first competition was held in 2017, is open to players under the age of 24 (born after January 1, 1999) or within 3 years of becoming a professional, as well as wild players. It consists of three card members (born after January 1, 1994), and the final list of 26 members is scheduled to be confirmed in the middle of next month.
Among Lotte players, Yoon Dong-hee, Jin Seung-hyun, Choi Jun-yong, Kim Jin-wook (pitcher), Jeong Jeong-geun, Son Seong-bin (catcher), Han Dong-hee (infielder), Ko Seung-min, and Kim Min-seok (outfielder) were included in the reserve list. There are as many as 12 Lotte players, including Han Taeyang, Na Seung-yeop (infielder), and Choo Jae-hyeon (outfielder), who are serving in the military at Sangmu. Dong-hee Yoon expressed his expectations, saying, “A lot of my teammates were selected, and it would be really fun if we all went together.”
Looking back on this season, Dong-hee Yoon joked, “It was very difficult physically towards the end of the first half. My biceps are getting thinner,” and added, “I thought it would be like that since it was my first full-time game, but next year I will pay attention to what I eat and control my physical strength more thoroughly.” “Thoughts,” he said.
He, who hit home runs in two consecutive games this season, said, “As I was hitting home runs, I unconsciously became conscious of long hits, and my records were always bad. Now, I’m thinking that if I keep hitting them, I’ll get better.” When asked what kind of determination he would have for the remaining games this season, he gave a short and blunt answer, “I will work hard.”