Jamsil Big Boy’s time is coming.
In this Major League Baseball season, the LG Twins successfully retained Park Hae-min’s position with a four-year total of 6.5 billion won (contract 3.5 billion won, annual salary 2.5 billion won, and bonus 500 million won), but failed to show a bright smile. Because I missed Kim Hyun Soo. Kim Hyun-soo joined hands with KT WIZ on the terms of 5 billion won for three years (contract fee of 3 billion won, total annual salary of 2 billion won).
The departure of Kim Hyun-soo, who had a total batting average of 0.312 (8110 effective at-bats, 2532 hits), 261 home runs, 1522 RBIs, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.867, is very painful for LG. Just this year, he hit .298 (483 at-bats, 144 hits), 12 home runs, 90 RBIs, and an OPS of .806 in 140 games. Won the Most Outstanding Player (MVP) in the Korean Series, and led LG to the overall championship for the fourth time (1990, 1994, 2023, 2025) in two years since 2023.
Fortunately, there are solutions. Lee Jae-won will be discharged from the army next month. In fact, he has yet to perform well in the first team. Since being drafted by LG with the 17th overall pick in the second round of 2018, he has had a batting average of only 0.222 (509 effective at-bats, 113 hits) and 78 RBIs in 220 games. Still, he hit 22 home runs, proving that natural “power” was real.
His performance has been good recently. Although he is in the Futures (two-team) league, he participated in a total of 78 games with Sangmu this year, with a batting average of 0.329 (277 effective at-bats, 91 hits), 26 home runs, and 91 RBIs. After the season, he was called upon by the Korean National Baseball Team led by coach Ryu Ji-hyun, and he recorded three effective at-bats, two hits, one home run, one home run, and three RBIs in two consecutive games with the Czech team in the 2025 NAVER K-BASEBALL SERIES (K-Baseball Series).
The head coach is also paying attention to Lee Jae-won. LG head coach Yeom Kyung-yeop said after confirming the overall championship, “If you train Lee Jae-won, the team will become stronger. Even if you are injured, you will not be too tired. We are a team that is cultivated together with results.”
The self-confidence of the players themselves has also been improved. Lee Jae-won, who met during the warm-up match against the Czech team, said, “(Thank you very much to coach Yeom Kyung-yeop). For what the coach said, I must perform well and leave no regrets.”
He continued: “My mentality has changed a lot (compared to before joining the army). I was shaken mentally. I changed my mentality. Because I faced it with the idea of ”if I can’t do it, so what”, I gained a lot of confidence. I gained confidence in me, which helped me get good results.”
Of course, opportunities don’t always exist. If injuries, sluggishness, etc. recur, opportunities will naturally return to other competitors. He himself knew this very well.
Lee Jae-won, who received enthusiastic cheers from fans in the warm-up match against the Czech team, said, “I was a little excited (hearing the LG team’s cheering song). I will show everyone my strength first and thank you for your support.”
[MK体育记者 李汉柱]
