Choi Won-tae, 27, who is just wearing a blue uniform, is leaving for the U.S. without even a moment to feel the spirit of the lion. He asked the club to join him. Seeing his new teammates going to the U.S. to study abroad, he asked them to join him. As such, Choi's new season resolution was extraordinary.안전놀이터
Choi Won-tae signed a free agent contract (FA) with the Samsung Lions for up to 7 billion won (2.4 billion won in down payment, 3.4 billion won in annual salary, 1.2 billion won in incentives) for four years on the 6th. Samsung said, "We recruited Choi Won-tae, an external FA, to reinforce the starting lineup." With this, Samsung will build a strong fourth starter, leading to Ariel Furado, Danny Reyes, Won Tae-in and Choi Won-tae.
However, there were many concerns over recruiting Choi. Choi won and lost nine games with a 4.26 ERA in 24 appearances this season. He also posted a record of nine wins and seven losses with a 4.30 ERA in 26 games last year. It was not an outstanding performance. Another stumbling block was poor performance in autumn baseball. Samsung, which uses Samsung Lions Park in Daegu as its home base for batters, also expressed concern that its performance would be even worse.
Choi Won-tae is also more aware of these concerns. That's why he was so desperate. This is why he volunteered to study in the U.S.
Samsung is sending its players to the Cressey Sports Performance (CSP), a baseball program facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. Pitchers studied abroad to accumulate training routines to improve ball control and batters to establish swing mechanisms.
Pitcher Hwang Dong-jae and infielder Lee Jae-hyun returned to Korea on Sunday after completing their three-week schedule, and two pitchers, left-handers Lee Seung-hyun and Lee Ho-seong, were scheduled to depart Korea on Sunday. On top of that, Choi Won-tae will board a plane to the U.S. together. "Choi Won-tae volunteered. He must really want to do well next season," Samsung's general manager Lee Jong-yeol said with satisfaction.
This demonstrates Choi's commitment to revive the team. "I will do my best to win the championship. Personally, I want to play as many innings as possible. I want to throw at least 150 innings every season," Choi said, strengthening his commitment to a must-win. "We plan to make various choices of pitches to suit the characteristics of the stadium," Choi said, looking for alternatives. Through his voluntary request to study in the U.S., he has clearly strengthened his commitment to take the game to another level and revive.
Meanwhile, Samsung was in trouble last year over the controversy over the violation of the ban on training during the inactive period. Studying in the U.S. was also a sensitive issue because it was a team-led training during the inactive period, but using last winter as an example, I asked the KBO early and received a "no problem" answer and proceeded to study abroad.