It has become a Major League Baseball academy in name and reality. Starting with Kang Jung-ho in 2014, Park Byung-ho in 2015, Kim Ha-sung in 2020, and Lee Jung-hoo in 2023 sent four players to the U.S. professional baseball through posting. This is the story of Kiwoom Heroes.
Outfielder Lee Jung-hoo (25), who played seven seasons with Kiwoom until this season, signed a six-year, $113 million contract with the San Francisco Giants, a prestigious National League club, on the 15th (Korea time). It is a “super-jackpot” that exceeded everyone’s expectations. Kiwoom sent four players, including Lee Jung-hoo, to the ML, earning 55.4 billion won through the posting system alone.
It’s not lucky. It’s because Kiwoom’s own system, development method, and strong networking have shone.
Kim Ha-sung, a Kiwoom native and the first Asian infielder to win the Gold Glove in the ML, said, “There is an autonomous part of the team atmosphere. If a young player does well, it is big to keep trusting and using it.”
Kim Ha-sung added, “The ML challenge also needs luck to match the timing and age, but I think that’s right because it’s in the Heroes who actively employ young players. It also allows the club to be positive about overseas expansion and develop such dreams.”
The hero team felt by the players is a club that is “free and friendly to young players.” What about the coaching staff that fosters such players.
Coach Hong Won-ki, who has been a coach at the Heroes since 2009, served as the head coach, and has been the head coach since 2021, has been a leader for 15 years only at the Heroes. 월카지노
“Heroes is an atmosphere where a coach can freely report to the coach. That’s what I’ve been like since I was a coach,” Hong said in a telephone interview with Sports Seoul on Wednesday. “As a coach encounters young prospects more often than a coach, I can observe them more deeply. There is a system that can report without hesitation, so I have reported the strengths of young players, and the coach listens.”
Coach Hong added, “Even after becoming a coach, coaches listen carefully to reports about young players, and sometimes they ask about some players to identify them.” Through this system, Kiwoom carefully discovers the talents and values of young players and calls up and employs them in the first team.