“I heard (from coach Kim Seong-gap) that it was so much better than I thought. I am thinking too.”
Choi Won-ho, coach of the Hanwha Eagles, is agonizing over the timing of a call-up for infielder Ha Joo-seok. This is because he has a good sense of hitting even during his long hiatus.
Coach Won-ho Choi talked about Joo-seok Ha ahead of the home game against SSG Landers in the 2023 professional baseball KBO league held at Daejeon Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park on the 8th.
Ha Joo-seok, who was nominated by Hanwha with the first overall pick in the 2012 rookie draft, is a right-handed and left-handed infielder. Until last year, he only played an active part in Hanwha, posting a batting average of 0.266, 48 homers and 326 RBIs in 786 first-team games.
However, Ha Joo-seok was caught driving drunk at the end of last year and was suspended for 70 games by the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). During this period, he only completed his individual training, and on June 29, his disciplinary period ended and he was allowed to play in official matches.
Joo-seok Ha, who has been learning the real sense of the game through the Futures (2nd Division) league game in about 9 months. However, despite his hiatus, he is showing off a high-sensitivity hit recently. He went 2 hits and 1 walk in 4 at-bats against the Goyang Heroes on the 5th. On the 6th, he swung a bat with 4 hits in 7 at-bats, 1 home run, 3 RBIs and 2 runs against Goyang.
Then, coach Choi Won-ho, who emphasized ‘improving the sense of practice’ for Ha Joo-seok’s return to the first team, changed his mind.
Coach Won-ho Choi, whom we met before the SSG game on the 8th, said, “I had a meeting with coach Seong-gap Kim (Futures general manager) yesterday (7th). Even the coach said he was much better than he thought. I couldn’t see (Ha Joo-seok) myself, but when I heard the story of the coach in charge of Futures, he said it was better than I thought.”
Coach Choi continued, “Coach (Kim Seong-gap) said that there would be no problem with the defense. He was worried because there was a blank period on the batting side, but he said that he liked the part of timing and responding. He said, of course, he’s not sure about balls over 150km (speed), but he’s good about (balls) over 140km. So I’m wondering if I should think about it again.”
Kim Seo-hyun, who is currently undergoing readjustment in the Futures League, won his first start in his debut against Goyang on the 6th.
Manager Choi Won-ho said, “I had a phone call with pitching coach Park Jeong-jin (Futures), and (Kim) Seo-hyun also said that the last pitching was good. He said, “I plan to throw it once more in the Futures early next week and make it to the mound again in the second half.”
Hanwha canceled right-handed pitcher Park Joon-young from the first-team entry ahead of the game. Instead, Kim Geon, an infielder resource, was registered. As soon as Kim Gun is in the first team, he starts as the designated hitter number 7.스포츠토토
Coach Choi said, “I always order hitters to hit aggressively and aggressively. I told him to do that,” and encouraged him by saying, “(Kim Gun-eun) was originally a very active hitter.”
On the other hand, Hanhwa Lee Jin-young (right fielder) – Nick Williams (left fielder) – Roh Si-hwan (3rd baseman) – Chae Eun-seong (1st baseman) – Kim Tae-yeon (2nd baseman) – Choi Jae-hoon (catcher) – Kim Geon (designated hitter) – Moon Hyun-bin (center fielder) – Lee Do-yoon (shortstop) formed the batting line. The starting pitcher is Ricardo Sanchez.