Na Sung-bum-Choi Won-joon return, Lee Woo-sung laughs… Same players, but made by different people

Lee Woo-sung (29‧KIA) has always been a worrier. Every year, he would look at the team roster and the names of his position competitors and wonder, “Will I make the first team?” Worry led to worry, and worry led to worry. Soon enough, the sighing conclusion, “Of course I won’t make it,” would settle in. “I was one of those really negative people,” Lee told himself.먹튀검증

He was a good hitter in the amateur ranks. His draft ranking (15th overall in the second round in 2013) proved it. He had high hopes and dreams, but at some point, he became more familiar with the negative word worry than the positive word hope. His impatience grew as he failed to make a mark in the first team before his military service. The more he tried to show, the deeper the swamp seemed to get.

Two back-to-back trades (Doosan to NC in 2018 and NC to KIA in 2019) probably pushed Lee’s ‘worry button’ even harder. He needed to show why he was chosen, but the opportunities didn’t come, or he couldn’t capitalize on them. One season would end, and the pattern of worrying about whether he’d make the camp roster for the next season, whether he’d make the first team, and whether he’d be able to compete for a starting spot would repeat itself.

But then the light bulb went off. Last year, he said, he started to change his mind. “For 10 years, I honestly thought a lot about whether I could make it (to the first team), and of course I couldn’t,” Lee said. “But from last year, I realized, ‘It’s not something I can control. It’s a waste of time to think about it,” he said.

It was a valuable lesson for a player who had been worried and troubled for a long time. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in real baseball, and it’s not something I can control, so I just play baseball every day anyway,” he said. “Whether you worry about it or not, it’s the same thing every day. So I made a clear distinction between what I could do and what I couldn’t do and focused on the former, and then I started to enjoy going out on the field, and I started to see things along the way.

Lee had his best season as a professional last year, batting .292 in 80 games. He wasn’t a steady starter, but he stepped up when the team needed him. He was also confident that he didn’t have to worry about anything unnecessary. Going into this year, I wasn’t really thinking about making the first team. He just did what he could, and it was comforting to know that whatever the outcome was, it was out of his control.

Lee Woo-sung cites a different mentality from his promise as the secret to his improved hitting ⓒKIA Tigers

Instead, he tried to keep his promise to himself. I went out early in the morning to exercise. He never compromised. “My grades were really bad, but since 2020, I’ve been going out in the morning and training consistently. “I’m still young, but when I was younger, I didn’t really understand the concept of routine. I said, ‘I’ll always come out in the morning and do this,’ and I’ve been doing it since 2020-2021. I go indoors first to do batting practice and warm up.”

The result of Nammo’s hard work and changed mentality has been a breakout season. Through 10 days, Lee is batting .319 with four home runs, 14 RBIs, and an OPS of .859 in 133 at-bats in 43 games this season. While he’s just shy of regulatory at-bats, his small sample size of over 100 at-bats makes him hard to overlook, especially with his ability to hit big at crunch time and fill the void left by the loss of star outfielder Na Sung-bum. Lee’s early and midseason performances should be remembered if KIA is to achieve the results they want this season.

It seemed like any modification to his batting mechanics, such as pulling his batting point forward, would have led to different results. However, Lee’s answer defies common sense. “I hit the same,” Lee repeatedly said. His baseball mechanics are the same now as they were when he was struggling with a 2.0 batting average. Of course, he was quick to point out that he gets a lot of help from the coaching staff and power analysis, but KIA may be realizing that a change in mindset can completely transform a player.

KIA has the power to add to the outfield. One of the team’s top prospects, Choi Won-jun, is being discharged from the military. He will be eligible for the first team roster on the 13th. Na Sung-beom, a steady starter, is expected to return in late June or early July at the earliest. Suddenly, the outfield is crowded again. The spot you’ve worked so hard for might be lost again. In such a situation, you can’t help but be sensitive and worry. However, Lee Woo-sung knows that it is also out of his control, so he laughs and says he is not worried.

“Of course, to be honest, I want to keep my spot, but right now, I’m just happy to be out there every day. “I really want to play fall baseball in a really high place, and my wish is to go out to the stadium at that stage where so many fans come. So I’m trying to think a lot of good thoughts instead of unnecessary worries. I only think about winning and being grateful.” Fans are also relieved of their worries about Lee Woo-sung by seeing the performance and attitude of someone else, even though they are the same player.

Lee Woo-sung (29‧KIA) has always been a worrier. Every year, he would look at the team roster and the names of his position competitors and wonder, “Will I make the first team?” Worry led to worry, and worry led to worry. Soon enough, the sighing conclusion, “Of course I won’t make it,” would settle in.…