When I first switched teams, I was overwhelmed. But a fresh start has been a blessing.
KT Wiz’s Oh Yoon-seok, 32, is a man of extraordinary grit. He entered the KBO as a college graduate, which is difficult for even the highest draft picks, and is now an infielder in his 10th year.
While his defense still leaves something to be desired, he makes good contact and has the ability to hit for power. Although he hasn’t been able to secure a spot in the starting lineup, he has been a force to be reckoned with every year. This year, he will compete for the starting second base position alongside “Captain” Park Kyung-soo and Lee Ho-yeon.
KT has a solid starting lineup of Cuevas-Benjamin-Go-Young-pyo-Eum Sang-baek and a young and dominant bullpen of Park Young-hyun, Son Dong-hyun, and Lee Sang-dong.
The team’s overall defense is also good.
However, their batting is a bit lacking. 바카라사이트 That’s where Oh Yoon-seok comes in.
“I’ve been preparing the same every year, but I’m having more fun this season,” Oh said, laughing about this year’s spring training.
He is a player who knows his own shortcomings and keeps trying. “Opportunities come when I do well,” he says. I’m always preparing so that I don’t miss the opportunity when it comes,” he emphasized.
However, his mindset for the new season is different than usual. In the past, I would be very nervous before the start of the regular season. I’d feel the pressure to do well. Mistakes would happen.
It’s clear that I need to improve. This year, I want to do better. I’ve been practicing a lot. I just tried to let go of my impatience a little bit. It’s paying off in practice.
“I feel more trusted than I did at Lotte,” Oh Yoon-seok said. Before, I was more impatient, but KT thankfully gave me more opportunities. I can feel that I have definitely grown in terms of my skills after playing a lot of first-team games.”
His goals for this season are to play more games than last year (82 games), to break into the second base lineup if possible, and to hit 80 hits in the season. He’s not in a rush and wants to help the team in small ways. “I haven’t hit more than 80 hits in a season yet,” Oh said. After I get 80 hits, I want to try for triple digits, because it means I’m not injured and I’m a full-time first team player,” he laughs.
He is also determined to win the Korean Series this year after last year’s disappointment.
“I’ve been to the Korean Series twice (2021 and 2024), but last year was the first time I played. Playing on such a big stage reminded me of my beginnings,” he said.
“I felt like so many fans came to my games, and it made me feel so grateful, and it made me want to play baseball longer, and it made me want to play more games like this. I realized how important it is to have big game experience and how you can grow from it. This year, I hope I can play and the team can win.”
Oh’s early professional career was a series of bad luck. After being drafted by Lotte in 2010, he chose to go to college, but four years later, he was completely undrafted. Fortunately, he joined Lotte as a rookie.
He rose to prominence in 2019, when former manager Yang Sang-moon was in charge of Lotte. In 2020, he showed his promise by hitting for the cycle.
In particular, he made headlines on October 4 against Hanwha when he hit his first cycling hit, including a walk-off home run. It was the first cycling hit with a walk-off home run in KBO history and the second in history to be completed before the fifth inning, joining Jeong Jin-ho (now coach of Doosan). He went 5-for-5 with seven RBIs and was the “King of the KBO” for a day.
Filling in for Han Dong-hee in the early part of the season and Ahn Chi-hong in the latter part of the season, he batted 2-for-9 with an OPS of 0.811. He showed promise at the plate with two walk-off home runs and a cycling hit, but his shaky defense was a weakness.
The following year, in 2021, he was traded to KT.
He moved between second base and first base in the second half of the season, filling in for the lack of hitting in the KT infield. He was the catalyst for the regular season championship. He was included in the roster for the Korean Series, 안전 토토사이트 but the series ended in a four-game sweep without him getting a single at-bat.
In last year’s Korean Series, he pinch-hit in Games 1 and 2 and started Games 3 and 4. However, he went 1-for-8 with one walk and one strikeout, and the team finished as runners-up. At 32 years old, Oh Yoon-seok’s “myth” could be even hotter this year.