"Way to go on the bench? What help will it be?" Starting in the third inning, swing training, desperate Oh Tae-gon's "reversal shot against a pinch hitter" was scheduled

"Way to go on the bench? What help will it be?" Starting in the third inning, swing training, desperate Oh Tae-gon's "reversal shot against a pinch hitter" was scheduled

Blog Article

"Baseball is played by players who are out there, but honestly, what good will it do to cheer up a lot?"

Oh Tae-gon (34) of the SSG Landers silently turned his bat to the batting training ground from the third inning and waited for the right time. As a pinch hitter, he was better prepared than anyone else and was able to give his team a victory with a powerful single stroke.

In the opening game of the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League against the Doosan Bears at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 22nd, Oh Tae-gon hit a come-from-behind two-run home run to lead 6-5 with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning.

SSG, which was being dragged, solidified its victory with this shot, and closer Cho Byung-hyun blocked it until the ninth inning following the eighth inning, giving the packed audience a thrilling upset victory in the opening game.

Ahead of this season, Lee headed to Kagoshima, Japan, not Florida in the U.S.A. amid consideration from Lee. Veteran players are expected to voluntarily upgrade their physical conditions in accordance with their own routines, rather than having to bear the burden of physical strength, long flight and jet lag.

There were also many critical views. It was worrisome whether the six players, including Oh Tae-gon, Choi Jeong, Han Yu-sum, Lee Ji-young, Kim Min-sik and Kim Sung-hyun, would be able to elevate their physical conditions well. Autonomy comes with responsibility. Choi took the lead in physical exercise, and so did Oh. Eventually, at the second camp in Okinawa, Japan, coach Lee Soo-yong smiled satisfactorily, saying, "Oh's physical condition was better than anyone else."

Nevertheless, Oh Tae-gon was on the bench ahead of the opening of the season. With Lee's inauguration as coach, Oh focused on "team remodeling," with Ko Myung-joon at the first base and Chung Joon-jae at the second base emerging as the starting lineup. Guillermo Herredia and Jihoon Choi were also firmly in the lineup for the opening game, while Ha Jae-hoon, who hit three home runs in three Futures League games after returning from injury, took the starting lineup.
Oh silently stood on the bench and cheered for his teammates. However, starter Drew Anderson collapsed before finishing the fourth inning and began to be dragged away.

The opportunity came in the bottom of the eighth inning. Park Sung-han got a walk off pitcher Lee Young-ha, who was replaced with one out, and Oh Tae-gon, who took the batter's box as a pinch hitter, stepped in as a pinch hitter. He hit a fastball of 150 kilometers per hour with the ball count 1-1, and fired an upset two-run shot over the left fence.

It was his first homer for this season and fifth homer for this season. At the same time, it was his first taste as a pinch hitter at an opening game.

After the game, manager Lee Soo-yong said, "Tae-gon is a hero in the field. He hit a decisive home run in a close game. Five RBIs were scored in the lower batting line. The key players of the pitching are missing, but it is the first win of the season that the players have united."

He showed off his good sense of play in the offseason from the first game as a substitute. After the game, Oh discovered the secret through self-training on Kagoshima. "There are six controversial players. Six veteran players would not believe it, but they really worked hard. I felt sorry for no reason and increased the amount of training, and Pengo also said, "Let's get one more, let's get one more."

It is never easy to hit the batter's box with a pinch-hitting card and adjust the timing to a 150-kilometer fast ball. It was possible because we were preparing early on. Oh Tae-gon said, "I always practice from the third inning. I always tell backup players that no matter how much you cheer up outside, it will not help the team, it will help the team to do what you can, stretch and run, and not get injured."

It is important to give strength to players who are playing in the original team spirit, but backup players have to do something else. "Anyway, you have to do well in the background to contribute to your team," Oh said. "Playing baseball is played by players who are out there, but honestly, what good is it to cheer up a lot on the bench?" Oh said. "A lot of players disappear from the bench during cleaning time. I think the system is in place like this. Rubber balls are coming out so that the machine won't get hurt, but they are as fast as Ohtani throws them. Lee Young-ha seemed to be too fast at 149 kilometers in the first shot. Still, it helped me a lot when I saw the machine."

I thought about how I could contribute to my team as a substitute. "As soon as I entered the batter's box, I thought of a fastball. Before that, (Park) Sung-han threw 4 ridiculous balls at the batter's box. I thought it would be a bad mood to die by hitting the first pitch, so I asked him to watch at least one of them, but he came in at the center with 149 kilometers to the middle, but the two fastball was missing," he said. "It was a two-pitch fastball and slider, and I thought it would be caught on the way out, but it worked out well."

Oh, who hit a home run, roared as if he had hit a walk-off home run in the Korean Series. 메이저사이트 That's how desperate he was. "I thought I went as soon as I hit it, but it kept bending over and over again. During that short period of time, I started shouting 'Go in, go in'. I got goosebumps because I moved on," Oh said. "I'm not a person who exaggerates things like that, but I think I (expressed) it because I liked it so much.

As much as I have good senses, I have to wait on the bench. Oh said, "I also think it's a shame because I'm a human being. It's called 'team remodeling,' and I told (Kim) Kwang-hyun on the bench that 'the team has become really young,' but I think that's why I'm losing ground to him." He added, "No matter what I do, the world doesn't change, and when I was given a chance as a promising player at Lotte, other seniors said that I had a day off when I played in the game. Since I had times like that, I try to accept it. Rather, I try to teach them a lot if I can teach them. I don't think I can help it."

Oh Tae-gon, who signed a four-year FA contract worth 1.8 billion won with SSG ahead of the 2023 season, said, "We have to survive by preparing well in it," adding, "We received money, so we have to pay for it." I think it's good for me to be grateful and help the team win-win because the coaches and coaches always trust me."

So I don't set too many goals. Oh said, "The result is the heaven. I want to do my best