Happiness was not in the order of nomination for the rookie draft. Rookie infielder Son Min-seok (19), who was nominated in the 3rd round of the KT Wiz, beat the 1st and 2nd rounders and was delighted to be on the opening entry for his debut season.
Son Min-seok left Gyeongnam High School and entered the pro with the 30th rank in the 3rd round of KT in the 2023 rookie draft. In fact, during the finishing camp, it was true that attention was focused on 1st round pitcher Kim Jeong-woon, 2nd round outfielder Jung Joon-young, and 7th round college graduate infielder Ryu Hyun-in, who gained recognition through the baseball entertainment program Strongest Baseball, rather than Son Min-seok. Son Min-seok is 177cm-70kg and his body is dwarfed, so he did not receive much attention compared to other motives.
However, Son Min-seok went to the Arizona 1st team spring camp in the United States and proved that small peppers are spicy. He quickly absorbed the advice of coaches and seniors and showed growth day by day, and in the WBC national team evaluation match, he was noticed by coach Lee Kang-cheol by wearing the ‘Daily Taegeuk mark’ and striking impressively. Following the trend, Son Min-seok showed a surprise performance with a batting average of 44% (8 hits in 18 bats), 5 RBIs and 4 points in 11 demonstration games. 메이저사이트
Son Min-seok, who we met in Suwon on the 28th, said, “At first, there were a lot of things I lacked, but since the spring camp, I quickly learned the parts that the coaches taught me in detail, and now I seem to be getting good results. His upper body tended to lean forward when he was at bat, but after swinging in place with his center of gravity behind, he improved his hitting point. He gave a lot of good hits,” he said.
Last February, the WBC national team’s ‘Daily Part-time Job’ was also a great help in adapting to the professional stage. Son Min-seok, who wore the Taegeuk mark on behalf of Kim Ha-seong and Tommy Edman, who were late to join the national team, said, “I was with seniors representing Korean baseball for a while, and there was a lot to learn. Each of the seniors had their own color, but I tried to find mine and learn from them. In particular, I was inspired by watching senior Kim Hye-sung hit hard.”