In fact, up until then, there were assessments that Seo Kun-chang and KIA did not have a perfect alignment in their direction. It is positive to have a veteran player and insurance, but no one was sure to what extent Seo would recover his skills. If so, it could have resulted in taking away only the seats of young players for nothing. KIA had a clear key player, Kim Sun-bin, at second base, and some infield resources, such as Yoon Do-hyun and Park Min, to raise. Seo’s position was ambiguous.
He was Seo Geon-chang, who rose to the MVP position of the league by writing a historic 200-hit season (201 hits), a feat that has never been seen in the KBO league in 2014. There was a time when he was in the spotlight as a school hitter representing the league. However, the downhill was quite steep, and the recent two years saw him go through hardships to the point where we couldn’t even guarantee that he would be in the first team. He had a batting average of 0.224 in 77 games in 2022, and a batting average of only 0.200 in 44 games last year. As he was not a player who had long hitters, the plunge in batting average was nothing short of a plunge in the value of Seo Geon-chang’s brand name.
Watching Seo’s athletic activities constantly, however, Kia had confidence that it would regain some of its performance, even if it was not in its prime. It eventually completed the contract with Seo in mid-January. Seo thought that he needed more opportunities and that Kia needed an experienced infielder to back up Kim Sun-bin. It was a contract that illustrated each other’s needs well. Kia even made an insurance bet. It only guaranteed the annual salary of 50 million won. Instead, it offered an incentive of 70 million won (10,800 dollars) to build Seo’s self-confidence at a total of 120 million won (120,100 dollars). Seo, who had been sweating profusely, also complied with the offer.
In fact, paying all 120 million won was the best scenario for KIA. Seo Geon-cheong’s ability to provide incentives, which is known to be quite tight, means that he has made a significant contribution to the team. And Seo Geon-chang is living up to that expectation. The incentive payment conditions are gradually being met, and in a way, the salary in 2024 continues to rise at this moment.
Seo, who has secured a spot in the opening entry through fierce competition in the infield, is singing a song of comeback early in the season. As seen in his annual salary, he did not have high expectations at first, but Seo’s bat has not gone anywhere. It is too early to judge everything as he played in 15 games this season, but as of Tuesday, Seo also showed a high sensitivity to hit with a batting average of 0.3850. He also selects a good walk. His on-base percentage has reached 0.510, and his slugging percentage has reached an all-time high of 0.564. Although his on-base percentage is slightly lower than the stipulated at-bats, his on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) has also reached 1.074.
His performance is not just good. It is worth noting that Seo is playing a role as a breakwater to prevent crises and negative developments in the early days of the season. Na Sung-bum and Hwang Dae-in left the fielders early in the season due to hamstring injuries, and even Park Chan-ho, who was the starting shortstop and had a good performance in the early days of the season, has been removed from the primary team to manage back pain. He needed a bat as well as a first baseman. Seo was able to minimize the gap by playing his part here.
As the current offensive figures suggest, he is playing the role of lubricant in the team’s batters, and sometimes his defense to the first base is included, expanding the scope of his team’s fielders’ management. Without Seo Geon-chang, he would have had to add one more backup first baseman, but it was resolved as soon as possible. Every time he went out on the field, he played well and became the hero of the game.
Personally, Seo is highly likely to be motivated as he has yet to exercise his right to become a free agent. As Seo is over 35 years old, he is eligible for Grade C. If he shows his bat skills this year, demand could resurface. Attention is also focusing on whether another good example will be written in Kia’s team history, in which it brought in players who were released or who were driven to such a situation.
BY: 토토사이트