Choo Jae-hyun, an outfielder for the Lotte Giants of the Korean Baseball Organization, joined the first team in July after being discharged from the Korean Armed Forces. However, he didn’t get much of a chance in the first team and was sent down to the second team. Injuries plagued him and he never got a chance to prove himself in front of manager Kim Tae-hyung.
After joining Nexen (now Kiwoom) with the 28th overall pick in the third round of the 2018 rookie draft, Choo wore a Lotte jersey in 2020 in a two-for-one trade with Jeon Byung-woo (now Samsung) and Cha Jae-yong (retired). After the 2022 season, he enlisted in the Armed Forces Sports Unit (Sangsang) to fulfill his military service. By the time he was discharged from the military in July of this year, he was batting 3-for-1 in 57 games (195-for-61) with four home runs, 30 RBIs, and an OPS of .802.
The situation is different now than it was before he joined the military. The team has a new front office and a new manager. And the outfield isn”t exactly favorable to Choo. Before Choo joined the military, the outfield was a void. It wasn’t easy to decide who to start, but now the outfield is completely set with Yoon Dong-hee, Hwang Sung-bin, and foreign hitter Victor Reyes.
The backups are just as strong.
The backup depth in the outfield isn’t bad either, with Kim Min-seok, a first-round pick last year who was an All-Star, and Jang Doo-seong and Kim Dong-hyuk. The outfield depth is mainly concentrated on left-handed hitters. It’s not like Choo Jae-hyun will just be given a chance.
He didn’t have enough time to prove himself, and injuries wasted his time, and he ended the season without a single at-bat in two games for the first team. However, he did get his wish. In his final official game for the second team, the Ulsan-KBO Fall League, he went on a tear.
In five games, Choo went 3-for-6 (6-for-19) with one home run, seven RBIs, and a .929 OPS. He was particularly impressive in the final game against the NC Dinos on April 29, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. 카지노사이트 His smooth swing allows him to push and pull, sending balls to the outfield evenly.
Choo’s strengths are his bat and his strong shoulders. His swing is smooth and he has the ability to hit long for his size (178 cm, 86 kg). His wrist strength and swing speed allow him to hit for power, and he is also a strong pitcher, throwing 140 kilometers.
However, his overall defense and ability to run the bases aren”t the best. He can”t compete with Jang Doo-sung, who is a professional outfielder and a quick runner. His contact ability also doesn’t stand out when compared to Kim Min-seok.
In terms of his stats and potential, some say that Choo is a solid player, but he doesn”t have any special abilities. As such, Choo Jae-hyun is in a position where he has to work hard to showcase his obvious competitiveness and appeal.
As he explained in his own words,
“I thought about how I could increase my value in the first team after playing in the second team, and I thought that I should become mentally stronger.”
He also abandoned the wait-and-see batting mindset in favor of the aggressive hitting that coach Kim Tae-hyung seeks. “I’ve been rethinking the ball a lot, but instead, I’ve been trying to keep batting in early pitches or favorable counts. When I came to the first team, there are many difficult pitchers, so I tried to hit aggressively,” he emphasized.
Despite the change in approach, Choo’s performance remained the same. Now it was up to him to prove himself. Although he didn’t get a “full buff,” his time to compete will come in 2025. Can Choo Jae-hyun be a part of the maelstrom of competition in the outfield in 2025?