Yang Eui-ji (35), the best catcher who returned to Doosan after 4 years, expressed his anticipation of being accompanied by new manager Lee Seung-yeop (47).
On the 11th, Doosan held Yang Eui-ji’s initiation ceremony at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. Yang Eui-ji, who left for NC ahead of the 2019 season, returned to Doosan after four years.
Yang Eui-ji is the best catcher in the KBO League. He has appeared in 1585 games over 16 seasons in his career, and has a batting average of 3.7, 228 homers, 944 RBIs, and an OPS (slugging percentage + on-base percentage) of 0.892. He won two championships (2015-2016) at Doosan, and led NC’s first integrated championship in the 2020 season.
Doosan achieved the feat of advancing to the Korean Series for 7 consecutive years until the 2021 season. However, in the 2022 season, it stayed in 9th place in the league and lost face to the famous family.
Doosan, which desperately wanted winning catcher Yang Eui-ji to rebuild the dynasty, offered a super-large contract. On November 22 last year, Yang Eui-ji was signed with a free agent (FA) contract worth up to 15.2 billion won in 4+2 years. This is an amount that surpasses the record of 15.1 billion won (4 years) of Kwang-Hyun Kim (SSG), the highest amount ever paid by FA. 메이저사이트
Head coach Lee Seung-yeop, who took over the baton in October of last year, picked the catcher as his weakest position when he took office. “If you have a good catcher, I think players can play comfortably,” he said. “If you ask what position our team needs, I’ll say catcher.” Doosan has been able to embrace Yang Eui-ji again through this FA contract as coach Lee wanted.
Yang Eui-ji also expressed expectations for accompanying director Lee. He said, “I wonder if Doosan has gained more strength because coach Lee Seung-yeop is there,” and “I have more expectations than worries about the 2023 season.
He also mentioned memories of the days of coach Lee, who had a reputation as a ‘national hitter’. Yang Eui-ji said, “When I first went to spring camp after being discharged from the military, the coach (who was a player at the time) always came for night training.” .
He then expressed awe, saying, “I watched from a distance, but I think I was respected by many juniors because I was always humble and a player who knew how to take care of my juniors.” Yang Eui-ji raised a thumbs up at Coach Lee’s dignity, saying, “I tend to talk a lot to the opposing team’s players at bat, but I don’t think I could talk to the national batter.”
When Lee took office, he set a goal of winning the Korean Series within three years. Yang Eui-ji also said, “I have the same thoughts as the coach. I set my goal to win every year.” did.