“I think this year will be the most memorable.”
Veteran hitter Son Ah-seop (35) of the NC Dinosaurs swept various trophies at the end of this year’s baseball award ceremony. Based on his outstanding performance in the batting average (0.339) and hits (187), he swept the KBO awards, the Choa Pharmaceutical Awards, and the Best Player awards at the Korea Professional Baseball Retired Players Association last month.
Notably, Son received 255 (87.6 percent) of 291 votes in the designated hitter category at the Golden Glove Awards ceremony on Wednesday. Son already has five golden gloves (2011-2014-2017) as an outfielder, and this is the sixth golden glove for Son. “I’ve been a professional for 17 years, and I think this year will be the most memorable,” Son said with a big smile.
Son Ah-seop clenched his teeth and swung the bat last winter. He left Lotte for NC ahead of the 2022 season, but his performance was not good enough. His batting average of 0.277 last year was the lowest since 2010, when Son was the starting member of the main league. Son, who suffered a severe blow to his pride, left early for the U.S. to prepare for the 2023 season. He visited Kang Jung-ho, a former Major Leaguer who runs a baseball academy in Los Angeles, California, and revised his launch angle, which had a great effect. “In fact, I was told that it was an aging curve (a decline in skills due to poor performance due to aging),” Son said. “I came to my senses more and prepared for this season. Still, I feel good that the result came out well.”
“I couldn’t talk about (Kang) Jung-ho at the Golden Glove Awards, and I’m very grateful,” said Son Ah-seop, who plans to work with Kang again in the U.S. in mid-January next year. Jung-ho gives me a factual explanation on why I have to use such a swing mechanism. It was an opportunity for me to re-establish my batting mechanism.” 랭크카지노
Son is expected to rank No. 1 with the most hits in next season’s history. Son has recorded 2,416 hits so far this year, just 88 shy of Park Yong-taek’s 2,504 hits. “This is an opportunity to put my name at the top of next year’s KBO League baseball history. It definitely motivates me,” Son said. “If I continue to do my best every day without losing my motivation, I think I will be able to achieve 3,000 hits that many people want.”
In addition, Son revealed his goal for next year early on. He aims to regain the Golden Glove in the outfielder category. “I’m not old enough to receive the designated hitter category, but I got it this time,” Son said with a smile. “I want to prepare better next year and challenge myself to become the Gold Glove in the outfielder category again.”