Jung Eun-won (24, Korea) is in “full swing” to rebound. She is so motivated to succeed that she delayed enlisting in the army to shake off her disappointment last year. The results of his immersion in training this winter are beginning to show.
Chung, who joined Hanwha in the third round (24th overall) of the 2018 KBO Rookie Draft, is preparing for his seventh professional season. He has had quite a successful career since his first year as a professional. As a high school rookie in 2018, he went straight to the “fall baseball” stage, and in 2021, he won a Golden Glove at second base as a top-level leadoff hitter. In 139 games in 2021, Jung batted .283 with 140 hits, 85 runs scored, 19 doubles, and an OPS of .791. He also drew a whopping 105 walks and had a .407 on-base percentage.
The following year, his batting performance dipped slightly, but he remained a force to be reckoned with, until last year, when he suffered a severe batting slump and finished the season with his lowest batting average of his career (.222). While he managed to maintain an on-base percentage of more than 3 percent with his signature “snow baseball,” he struggled to put the ball in play with his bat and eventually fell out of contention for the starting second base job.
Initially planning to enlist in the military after the 2023 season, Jung changed his mind after a meeting with Hanwha manager Choi Won-ho. He gritted his teeth as he decided to stay with the team. After a final camp, a spring training camp in Australia, and now a second training camp in Okinawa, Japan, Jeong is regaining his hitting touch. In a scrimmage against KT at Gochinda Stadium on April 28, he started in left field as the No. 1 hitter and went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and one run scored.
Jung may be deployed in the outfield this year due to overlapping positions with the likes of Ahn Chi-hong and Moon Hyun-bin. As a former ‘Golden Glove’ second baseman, it would be a blow to his ego, but he put past glories aside from the moment he decided to enlist. He is determined to prove his competitiveness at any position.
SSG’s Jeon Eui-san, 24, is another player who, like Jeong, delayed his enlistment this year and has been working hard in camp. He was quickly touted as the “next big thing” for the SSG after hitting 13 home runs in 77 games in 2022 when he debuted in the first 카지노사이트 team. However, Jeon failed to continue his upward trend last year, hitting just four home runs in 56 games and a .201 batting average. He deferred his enlistment through an interview with the club, and finally emerged as a candidate for the starting first base job last year.
Jeon started at first base in the No. 5 spot in an exhibition game against the Taiwanese professional team Tung Yi Lions at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tainan, Taiwan, on Aug. 28 and hit back-to-back solo home runs in the sixth and eighth innings. “I decided not to join the army, so if I had to play (baseball), I wanted to do it without regrets,” Jeon said. “I feel good that the things I prepared in the U.S. (first camp) have been carried over into practice. I want to be a player who fulfills my role as the starting first baseman.”
It’s too early to tell what the outcome of Jeong and Jeon’s decision to postpone the military will be this fall. What’s clear is that both players are putting their hearts and souls into making sure that their choice doesn’t turn out to be a failure.