“If I were young, I would have gone.”
Doosan Bears veteran shortstop Kim Jae-ho (38) expressed his honest feelings. On the 15th, he appeared on KBS N Sports commentator Kim Tae-kyun’s YouTube channel [TK52] and said as above when asked if he would like to extend his active duty by going to other clubs.
“Other teams would have gone if they were young. If they were young, they would have gone. I think it’s right to clean up (Dusan) here,” Kim Jae-ho said. His three-year, 2.5 billion-won free agent contract has ended, and he has one full year left to qualify for the free agent again. Kim Jae-ho secretly told Kim Tae-kyun what he wanted.
However, Kim looked surprised as he was not special. “I haven’t said anything like that yet. I’m not greedy. I don’t have that much greed…” Kim said. At the age of 38, he seems to want to end his career with Doosan better than going to other clubs.
Coach Lee Seung-yeop, who took over the team this season, basically did not guarantee Kim the starting shortstop. He wanted to give Ahn Jae-seok and other central infielders as much as possible a chance to change generations naturally as possible. However, none of them stood out and Kim Jae-ho, who had sweated since the Sydney spring camp, secured his position by banking on his skills. 월카지노
Kim Jae-ho had a batting average of 0.283 with three homers, 29 RBIs, 32 runs and four stolen bases by recording an OPS of 0.748 at-bats for 70 at-bats in 91 games this season. He confessed his disappointment by posting a batting average of 0.209 and 0.215 between 2021 and 2022. He contributed to Doosan’s return to the postseason for the first time in two years.
A player like Kim Jae-ho can decide his own course of action. Doosan also reportedly believes that Kim Jae-ho is worth enough. Since there is enough time until next year’s spring camp, it seems that the environment has been created for Kim Jae-ho to spend his twilight years well.
“Since we have a new coach here, we had to show him. I’m glad to be of any help. We won three times (2015-2016, 2018), and our goal was to play only autumn baseball this year. I’m satisfied, but it’s a shame,” Kim said.
It is not because of their sense of accomplishment but because their juniors finished the post season with just one game of experience. After ranking fifth in the regular season this year, Doosan finished the season as it lost the first wild card game against the NC Dinos. Kim Jae-ho knows very well what effect young players’ postseason experiences have.
“I went to the Korean Series for seven consecutive years, but I failed once, and now I’m in a new generation,” Kim Jae-ho said. “A generation that has never experienced the postseason before. So, they will experience even a little more and be of great help to them. That’s a shame. If they had played one more game, they would have… “
For Doosan’s spiritual support, the growth of its juniors is more important than its own annual salary contract. It would be good to encourage the growth of juniors by playing more actively.