Ten years ago, a promising outfielder called ‘Daejeon High School Kim Dong-ju’ made his professional debut with the Doosan Bears after receiving a pro nomination with 15 overall in the second round.
He joined Sangmu early and even solved his military problems, but was unable to break through the fierce competition for the starting position, and was eventually traded to the NC Dinos after two seasons and to the KIA Tigers after another season.꽁머니
3 years spent at KIA since 2019.
His batting average stayed in the low 20.000 range while he was not guaranteed enough opportunities, and even his long hitting power, which was an advantage after his injury, disappeared.
After being pushed back in the position competition, he seemed to disappear in people’s memories only with the appearance of a promising player.
Incisor heart.
The possibility of hope was reflected again in Lee Woo-sung’s baseball life, which he thought was passing by.
In the 2022 season, Lee Woo-sung has grown into a player who can threaten the starting position by showing improved batting power, main power, and defensive power.
In his third year, he hit triple digits with a batting average (0.292) approaching .300, and although he only had one home run, he also set a record for the highest slugging percentage (0.375) since his debut.
Atmospheric maturity.
The miracle of this season began for Lee Woo-sung, who finished his warm-up.
81 appearances, 5 home runs, 69 hits, 6 stolen bases, batting average 0.296, slugging percentage 0.403, on-base percentage 0.369 (as of August 14
) Filled.
Throughout the season, the batting average was consistently maintained at the 30% level, and the home run four was restarted by recovering the slugging power that had been lost for a while.
Lee Woo-sung’s performance, like Altoran, from stable defense to stealing bases using quick feet, became a support for the KIA, which lost a lot of key players in the first half.
And on July 15th, Lee Woo-sung was proudly named on the KBO League All-Star Game roster 10 years after his debut and received applause from fans.
Ilshinwooilshin (日新又日新).
It’s been a month since the second half started after the All-Star break.
Amidst the all-time mid-level competition, KIA’s key players who had left the team returned one after another, but the position of ‘Lee Woo-sung, the main left fielder’ is still strong.
Lee Woo-sung has now become a constant rather than a variable in team strength.
We look forward to writing a new history for his team and himself with his honest steps forward step by step.
(This interview was conducted on August 8)
Q. Impressions of spending the season as a full-time starter
Lee Woo-seong (hereafter referred to as Lee): I have never thought of myself as a full-time starter because there were many games I didn’t play, and there are still many games left, so I just thought about the team winning until the end and I played the game. I don’t care about whether I go to or not, I just feel a little happy when the team wins, and I feel a little bad that day when I lose.
Q. What is the secret to surviving the fierce outfield competition?
Lee: There are still a lot of games left, and then there are many good outfielders and younger brothers on our team, so I don’t think I won yet, and I don’t think I’ve ever thought about that.
Q. There has been no news of a home run since June 16th.
Lee: Originally, since I was young, I have never played baseball with a home run awareness, and I don’t really have much desire for a home run. Just if there’s something I care about, I have to score when there are runners, so the team wins, so I pay attention to that part, and I’m conscious of home runs and long hits as I’ve felt during the 11 years I’ve been a pro. It’s not something I have to do, so I’m not at all conscious of whether it’s something I leave to my fate when I get a good hit.
Q. You say you suffered from shingles, but does it affect your playing?
E: It’s okay. And originally, when I look at senior Hyungwoo, I think that he is really cool, because he also plays as long as he is not broken. But some of our juniors are learning like that. I am not sick, I am patient, and there is no hindrance to running, so I can play 100%, so I am focusing on the game now.
Q. How do you manage your physical strength in the summer?
Lee: I don’t know how to do that, so I don’t know how to do it, but my coaching staff and coach always beside me and say a lot of good things, and personally, my wife cooks well at home and cooks a lot of meat, so I just do those things well. I eat a lot, and my wife always takes good care of vitamins, so I eat a lot of those things.
Q. It’s difficult to maintain a sense of hitting when you’re a backup, and that must be the case. What kind of mindset did you have at the beginning of the season or at that time?
Lee: Even so, the coach has been very thankful since last year that I had good times and bad times, but he only dropped the 2nd team once. about 10 days. Because he did this, I also felt a lot of responsibility, so I came out in the morning and practiced hard every day, and when the opportunity came, I thought a little more about the team. I think I was trying to make some bets like that for the team.
Q. What is your personal goal this season?
Lee: I don’t have any personal goals. Actually, I went up the fall baseball for the first time in 10 years last year, and it was so much fun that my personal goal is to go to a game at a higher place.
Q. How is the atmosphere of the team in the middle of the competition?
Lee: First of all, the coaches brighten it up first, and under that, we insist, and the seniors Seongbeom hyung and Hyeonjong hyung lead it like this, and now my middle-aged friends do something like this, so I get along well with my younger siblings, and the team Regarding the atmosphere, I am so grateful that you did everything well above, so it seems that we are following that atmosphere.
Q. To the fans
: We now have about 50 games left, and we will try our best to win as many games as possible so that we can win as many games as we can so that we can rise higher and smile more. thank you