“I have no intention of avoiding a good pitcher”

American sports reporter Joanne Ryan classifies players who pretend to be ill to avoid confrontation after seeing the opponent’s selection in her book ‘Team Chemistry’ as ‘super disturbers’. It is said that he is a player who is detrimental to team chemistry by making other teammates lose their motivation.

LG outfielder Park Hae-min is the opposite.메이저놀이터 The goal is always to play in 144 games. Even on the day he was absent from the starting lineup, he was warming up before cleaning time. The result came out with a pinch hit, two RBIs, and a timely hit in the 6th inning.

The LG Twins won 4-1 against the Hanwha Eagles in the ‘2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League’ held at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 21st and won 4 consecutive wins. Park Hae-min came out as a pinch hitter in the 6th inning when he was leading 1-0 with 2 outs and bases loaded, widening the score gap with a timely hit to the left.

LG director Yeom Gyeong-yeop has been waiting for the time to give Park Hae-min a break since the last weekday series. It was because Lee Jae-won needed traffic control as he started entering the starting lineup.

One of them, Kim Hyeon-soo, Park Hae-min, Hong Chang-ki, Moon Seong-joo, Lee Jae-won, and Austin Dean, has to rest. Moon Seong-joo took a break first due to symptoms of phlegm, and as the next runner, Park Hae-min, who started in the entire match, was in mind. However, as Moon Seong-joo took a few more days off due to knee pain, Park Hae-min’s record of starting consecutive games this season increased to 39. It was only on the 21st that he was removed from the starting lineup for the first time.

▲ Park Hae-min ⓒReporter Kwak Hye-mi

In fact, it may not be what Park Hae-min hoped for. Park Hae-min appeared in all 144 games last year. He started all but two games. But he has a team policy, so he accepted. Park Hae-min laughed, saying, “Since Tuesday (the 16th), I’ve read a lot of articles with such content, so I’ve been preparing my mind.” At the same time, he said, “I thought I would take a break someday, but he told me to take a break today, and I was told to prepare so that I could go out anytime after the 5th episode, so I was moving in advance.”

As for why he wants to play despite the consideration of the bench, he simply replied, “Because I want to continue playing.” Also, “If you are a player, you will. I do not want to avoid it just because a good pitcher comes out. Also, I think that I can help pitchers with defense even if it is not a hit. I want to go out in the game somehow and help the team. I think this is big,” he said, emphasizing the principle of ‘Team First’.

So the preparations became more elaborate. It’s because I don’t want to hear ‘because of my age’. Park Hae-min said, “I increased my weight training to avoid talking about physical strength. I increased it from 2 times a week to 3 times a week, and strength coach Steve Hong and training part coaches helped me a lot. Focusing on speed training, I heard that my speed slowed down as I got older. We are preparing not to come out,” he said.