t was mid-February last year. Lee Joo-hyung (23) of Kiwoom was on his last vacation before being discharged from the military as a member of LG at the time, and was interviewed at LG Champions Park in Icheon. He talked about getting in shape after being discharged from the military, traveling to the Futures League, and reaching the first team stage.
A year later, on the 2nd (Korean time), I met Lee Joo-hyung at the Kiwoom spring camp set up at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.
There have been many changes in Lee Joo-hyung over the past year. He is now a Kiwoom player, not an LG player. He was a second-team prospect at LG, but has now become a decent starter for Kiwoom.
Lee Joo-hyung moved to the team in July of last year through a large trade between Kiwoom and LG. LG, which needed a starting pitcher to win the championship, took Kiwoom pitcher Choi Won-tae and sent Lee Joo-hyung, rookie pitcher Kim Dong-gyu, and a first-round pick in the 2024 draft to Kiwoom.
It became a big turning point in Lee Joo-hyung’s baseball life. Lee Joo-hyung, who had few opportunities to play in the first team at LG, which had a large player base, was traded to Kiwoom, where he received many opportunities to play and showed off his batting talent. His salary was increased by 100% in this year’s contract renewal, and Lee Joo-hyung said of himself last year, “It’s about 70 points. “Of those, 60 points were due to luck,” he commented calmly.
For Lee Joo-hyung, this is his first overseas camp since his debut. He said, “He came into the starting lineup in mid-January and built his body well. He said, “I had a hard time getting over the nap for the first three to four days because I was adjusting to jet lag,” and added, “It’s nice because the weather is nice and it’s an environment where I can only play baseball. We also do night training at the hotel... “I think the environment where only baseball can be played is similar to Icheon,” he said with a smile.
Regarding the dramatic changes over the past year, Lee Joo-hyung said, “There were a lot of regrets, but I was able to continue playing because the results followed. I think I played baseball to the best of my ability. (At LG) Every time I was promoted to the first team, there were a lot of things I couldn't do because I was shrunk, but (at Kiwoom) I got good results and showed a better performance than before. “But it’s unfortunate that I wasn’t able to show much in base running and defense because of the injury,” he said.
He continued, “Seeing that injuries occurred even though the number of games played was small (he played 51 games for Kiwoom), it made me think about how to manage injuries since I have to play a full-time season of 144 games this year. Looking back on last year, he said, “I think it was a season that had great meaning because it seemed like we had a clear direction and goal for what to do based on our experience.”
The attitude of preparing by thinking about the shortcomings first rather than the good points stood out. Perhaps that's why Lee Joo-hyung said, "I think it was around 70 points if he were to rate himself last year. Moreover, I think the 60 points were a result of good luck, and the 10 points were a result of diligently performing what I had prepared. “The lack of 30 points is due to lack of body management,” he commented calmly.
