SSG Landers Jong-hoon Park’s face is halved. He lost 14 kilograms during the off-season on a bloody diet. He runs more than 10 kilometers a day and eats only a little raw food in the evening, such as carrots and lettuce. He wants to find his best form.
Along with Moon Seung-won, Park Jong-hoon, the first official non-free agent multi-year contract in KBO history, hit the “jackpot” with a five-year, 6.5 billion won contract (including 900 million won in incentives). The SSG franchise honored Jong-hoon before he could fulfill his free agency requirement, and Jong-hoon, who has great affection for the team, was happy to sign.
After signing, he underwent elbow surgery and rehabilitation before returning during the 2022 season, but the next two seasons were a struggle. In 2022, he went 3-5 with a 6.00 ERA in 11 games, and in 2023, he went 2-6 with a 6.19 ERA in 18 games. It’s hard to believe that a starting pitcher who is one of the pillars of the rotation is not performing well. Poor command of his pitches and a strange lack of balance led to his downfall. He missed more days in the rotation and spent more time in the second team.
I felt sorry for not being able to help the team.
Then, in November, Jong-hoon received the shocking news that he was removed from the 35-man protected list ahead of the second draft. Among the players who were removed from the roster at the time, SSG reached out to veteran players like Park Jong-hoon and Choi Joo-hwan and asked for their understanding. 카지노사이트 Choi Joo-hwan was transferred to the Kiwoom Heroes, but Park Jong-hoon was not picked up by any other team.
In fact, the fact that they were excluded from the protected list was not publicized. It’s a mutual courtesy. However, in the case of Choi Joo-hwan and Park Jong-hoon, they are first-team players and have careers, so the rumors of their exclusion were spread through other clubs.
Jong-hoon is always smiling, but this time, his heart was broken.
He laughs about it now, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t. When we met at Landers Field in Incheon on the 3rd, Park Jong-hoon said, “When I first heard about it (excluding the protected list), what was it? I thought, ‘Is it real, is it a joke?’ But afterward, I think I would have been the same way if I were in that position. We need to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Other than that, I don’t have an answer. You can’t be angry about it and not do it. I’m glad I didn’t go to another team. I might have gotten really depressed if I had,” he said. He smiled, but there was a hint of sadness in his voice.
He was born in Gunsan, but Incheon, where he started his career and started a family, is now his second home. He also has the greatest love for his team. “I have a huge heart for the team,” Jong-hoon said. But honestly, I didn’t think any other team would take me. I just went out to the baseball field and covered my face,” he recalls.
It wasn’t for lack of trying.
For the past two years, I’ve trained every Monday without fail. I’ve probably practiced more than anyone else in terms of volume.
So this time I did the opposite. I decided to spend time with my family and let go of my focus on power. He decided to lose weight and work on his agility and flexibility. He was determined to get over the hump of being a submarine pitcher.
“My mother-in-law kept analyzing me. “My mother-in-law keeps analyzing me, saying, ‘Jong-hoon, look at your weight at this time,’ and comparing it to the recent past,” Jong-hoon laughs. “When I was performing best, I was in the mid-80s, but I gained a little bit and came close to 100 kilograms. I was focused on bulking up, but I realized it too late. I feel like I wasted two years of hard work. I’m more concerned with flexibility than strength. I’m taking everything one piece at a time,” he said of his weight loss.
When asked how he hopes to regain his honor this season, he said, “I don’t know if I had any honor. I just want to be a pitcher who doesn’t skip pitches anymore. I’m so angry at myself for delaying my rotation and only going with teams that have a good record against me. At myself. I didn’t even want to do it. Now I feel like my first task as a first-team starter is to go a full season without that.” 카지노사이트 순위