Reporter Seo Jang-won = The Samsung Lions made changes to their spring camp this year. This year, the Futures (second group) also joined the overseas field training, which normally only participated in the 1st team.
The 1st team team uses the Onnaon Akama Stadium in Okinawa, Japan, which they have been using all along, and the 2nd team team is training at Ishikawa Stadium, about 30 minutes away from Akama Stadium in Onna Village by car.
The integrated overseas spring camp for the 1st and 2nd teams is also the will of Samsung coach Park Jin-man to look after the players evenly. Director Park set the theme of this spring camp as ‘competition’. Coach Park’s intention is to open the doors of opportunity to all players, including the 1st and 2nd teams, without restrictions, and to give corresponding opportunities to players who have shown competitiveness.
Since the training grounds for the 1st and 2nd teams are close by, it is also easy for coach Park to keep track of the players. In fact, coach Park goes back and forth between the 1st and 2nd team campsites to check the players. It is easier to determine the skill of a player directly by watching them than by receiving written or verbal reports.
This is also a great opportunity for new players. This is because they can show off their skills in front of the director’s direct observation. As usual, it is time to focus on building a body in Gyeongsan, but as I participated in overseas training, an environment was created where I could train with the expectation of being called up to the first team.
Among the rookies this year, there is a player who received the eye mark of coach Park. That is infielder Kim Jae-sang (19).
Kim Jae-sang, a graduate of Gyeonggi Commercial High School, wore a Samsung uniform with the 28th place in the third round in the rookie draft held last year. Kim Jae-sang, famous as the son of Samsung Life Insurance wrestling team coach Kim In-seop, who was a silver medalist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, took the bat instead of following his father’s path.
Jaesang Kim’s potential exploded during his high school days. He showed off his outstanding skills with a career batting average of 0.388, 3 home runs, 36 RBIs, 37 runs scored, 17 stolen bases, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 1.005. He was evaluated as a player with great potential to grow to the extent of becoming one of the top three high school shortstops along with Whimoon High School Min-seok Kim (Lotte Giants) and Bukil High School Min-jun Kim (SSG Landers).
Coach Park, who made a name for himself as a great shortstop during his active career, also showed interest in Kim Jae-sang. On the 6th, not long after the camp started, Kim Jae-sang was called up to the first team camp. Kim Jae-sang is gaining valuable experience by training with young infielders such as Kim Ji-chan, Lee Jae-hyun, and Kim Young-woong. Watching the training of veteran players up close is also a great asset to Kim Jae-sang. 안전놀이터
For Samsung, off-season veteran infielders Kim Sang-soo (KT Wiz) and Oh Seon-jin (Hanwha Eagles) qualified as free agents and left for other teams. A reorganization of the infield centering on young players is inevitable. Young players such as Kim Ji-chan, Lee Jae-hyun, and Kim Young-woong should take the center stage in the new season.
In the midst of this, an opportunity came to Kim Jae-sang. If he secures the competitiveness to play in the first team during the rest of the camp, he is expected to make his first team debut sooner than expected. Kim Jae-sang’s joining of the 1st team can instill a sense of competition in the existing 1st team players, leading to the effect of mutual growth, and it is a great motivation for the 2nd team players. This is the ‘virtuous cycle of competition’ that director Park wants.
Through the club’s official YouTube channel, Kim Jae-sang said, “I had a great desire to come quickly and train with my brothers. I think I will be able to adapt to the first team sooner than I thought because my brothers are so good at it.” I will try to show a good performance in the first team,” he said.