Doosan’s search for a successor to Kim Jae-ho (38) has stalled, and Kim Jae-ho himself has shared how to become a starting shortstop.
“It’s a reality that Doosan doesn’t have a solid starting shortstop,” Kim Jae-ho said at the spring training camp in Sydney, Australia, in February, expressing concern about the future of the Bears’ shortstop. He was entering the final year of his three-year, 2.5 billion won free agent contract, but no one had yet emerged to replace him. Of course, a resurgence this season and an extension would ease his worries, but if not, he’ll have to find a post-Jae-ho somehow this year and leave the Doosan infield. Kim Jae-ho will be 40 years old next year, which is Korean age.
Currently, there are only three possible successors to Kim Jae-ho: Ahn Jae-seok, Lee Yoo-chan, and Park Kye-beom. Initially, Ahn Jae-seok, the first infielder drafted 17 years after Kim Jae-ho, was highly anticipated, but his growth has been slow since joining the team in 2021, and he has been on the second team for nearly a month this year due to injury. Lee Yoo-chan took over at shortstop, but he was moved to second base due to defensive concerns, and Park Kye-beom, the “Oh Jae-il compensation player,” recently emerged as the new owner of the shortstop position.
All three players still have a lot of work to do to earn the title of starter. First of all, they don’t have full-time experience and are still prone to errors in defense. Shortstop is a key position that is often referred to as the fielding commander of the infield. Coach Lee Seung-yeop also said, “We still lack a lot. We need to gain more experience. I don’t see any players who stand out.”
Kim Jae-ho’s view was not much different from the commander’s. He said, “They have an empty spot to make a mark,” and added, “I want them to be mean, and to be mean, they have to be good. They’re too nice, so their performance is weak. I want them to show their fighting spirit, but they are young and have a lot of fear of failure. Then it’s over before you can show it. You have to overcome it with mental strength. Don’t be afraid of failure and don’t be weak,” he emphasized.
Kim Jae-ho was also drafted by Doosan in the first round of the 2004 rookie draft and didn’t win the title of starting shortstop until 2014. “I was told that I was good at baseball since I was a kid, but I struggled a lot when I came to the pros,” he said. “I was also good, and (Son) Shi-heon, who was the starter at the time, wanted my brother to do well. But this is the heart that loses. I hope the juniors will grind their teeth on the inside, even if they don’t show it on the outside.”토토사이트
This doesn’t mean that Kim Jae-ho is giving up the shortstop position to his juniors. He is also a competitor for the shortstop position, and he is gritting his teeth and showing his veteran fighting spirit to help the younger players improve. At the Australian spring training camp, Kim Jae-ho made no secret of his desire to extend his contract.
“I’m getting older as a baseball player, and I want to be a player who can endure even if I can’t in the future,” he said. “When I look at the Bears’ seniors, they don’t play until the end, and most of them end up in the second team. I want to be a player who can stay on the first team field until the end and be able to pull out when it’s really over.”