“I am not very conscious. Some say that my evaluation has already been completed.”
He drives Major League (MLB) scouts like clouds. The number of scouts, who had been one or two at the team’s camp, increased to eight during the evaluation match. As the World Baseball Classic (WBC) approaches, it is certain that more scouts will gather at the WBC game. However, the player who was scouted was resolute. 2023 WBC Korean national team outfielder Lee Jeong-hoo (25) calmly conveyed his current mindset.
This is unusual. A scene that could only be seen with Japanese players is also happening to Korean player Lee Jung-hoo. Like Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, and Daisuke Matsuzaka in the past, MLB scouts gather everywhere Lee goes. On the 17th (Korean time), the New York Yankees, Mets, LA Dodgers, Boston, Chicago Cubs, Texas,스포츠토토 Detroit, and Kansas City scouts were dispatched in the evaluation match between the national team and NC held at the Tucsonkino Complex in Arizona, USA. Earlier this month, at the Kiwoom spring camp, the number of scouts that had two or three scouts more than doubled.
However, Lee Jung-hoo did not attach importance to the scouts’ interest in him. He said, “Scouts are looking for me, but I’m not very conscious. Some say that my evaluation has already been completed. I think they are just checking one thing,” he said. As I said at Kiwoom Camp, the WBC is not my showcase.”
He continued, “The WBC is not a competition to promote myself. As a national team player, it is a competition that the team must win. Of course, scouts have to work, so they should come to see me and my friends or juniors, but I just want to win the WBC game quickly,” he added.
Lee Jung-hoo has already gone through a lot of preparation. During the off-season he signed an agency contract with MLB super agent Scott Boras. From now on, Boras Corporation will be in charge of the work related to overseas expansion. And in early January, I went to LA, USA, and experienced the training of MLB players in advance. In addition, the batting form was also modified. The swing is being done more concisely than before to make it easier to cope with fast balls.
In response to the question, “How well are the new hitting mechanics adapting?” Lee Jung-hoo said, “I’ve tried it once. I have rarely hit a ball thrown by a pitcher with this batting form. I am still batting with the feeling of live,” he said. In future matches, I will try various things to find a comfortable part within the changed form.”
At the same time, Lee Jung-hoo said that he was also preparing for the WBC special rule, an overtime match. He said, “I am doing a lot of image training to step into the at bat in the situation of second base without an extension. It will depend on the situation, but I also think that he wants to create a cool scene by hitting well from second base safely. He is confident in sending the batted ball to the right side, so he will hit the base if necessary, but he also has a desire to solve it.”The goal is clear. will come back to the US. He advanced to the semifinals and pictured a WBC semifinal in Miami, Florida. And before that, he promised to win his first match against Australia. Lee Jung-hoo said, “My biggest goal is to go to America again. However, if you look closely, you have to win against Australia. Right now, I am only thinking about the game against Australia.”