It is the "biggest FA fish" that can be found only next winter, and interest is already exploding. KT's "genius hitter" Kang Baek-ho (27) is set to exercise his first FA right in his life.토토사이트

As soon as Kang Baek-ho joined KT in 2018, he won the Rookie of the Year award with a batting average of .290 29 home runs and 84 RBIs, and made a spectacular debut report. Kang Baek-ho's success and run continued. Kang Baek-ho, who opened his eyes to the accuracy in 2019 with a batting average of .336 with 13 home runs and 65 RBIs, played a big role in KT's first unified championship with a batting average of .347 with 16 home runs, 102 RBIs and 10 steals in 2021, followed by a batting average of .347 with 16 home runs and 10 RBIs in 2020.

Of course, he had to have some ups and downs due to his injury. Kang's performances from 2022-2023 fell short of his name. However, he proved his health by playing in all 144 games last year, and succeeded in reviving with a batting average of .289 with 26 homers and 96 RBIs.

Kang enjoyed a "preliminary FA premium" in salary negotiations. Kang, who received an annual salary of 290 million won (290,000 dollars) last year, signed a contract at 700 million won (690,000 dollars), setting a new record for the highest annual salary in his eighth year in the KBO league. The rate of increase is 141.4 percent.

The reason why the "10 billion won contract theory" is already mentioned about "preliminary FA" Kang Baek-ho is because Kang Baek-ho raised his value by wearing a catcher mask last year. Kang Baek-ho played in 30 games and played 169 ⅔ innings as a catcher last season.

A catcher has many things to do. He needs to take care of not only his solid defense but also his pitching lead. He also needs to be well aware of the characteristics of the opposing batter. Despite this, Kang is said to have played the catcher position easily. It was a good opportunity for Kang to broaden his horizons. "Since I am not the only one who is good at this position, I feel more responsible," Kang said. "I thought that I should do well when I leave the first base or the outfield, but a catcher needs to think of a pitcher and take into account the team's situation. Still, I feel more at ease than when I am in the outfield."

Of course, Kang Baek-ho, a catcher, is still lacking. Kang started 19 games as a catcher last year, but played in all but one game in which right-handed pitchers took the mound. KT manager Lee Kang-cheol said, "I still have difficulty catching the ball from a left-handed pitcher." As a result, even KT left-handed foreign pitcher Wes Benjamin was unable to keep pace with Kang.

It is highly likely that Jang will keep his home ground as well this year. Jang had a batting average of .268 with 19 homers and 81 RBIs last year, setting career highs in both home runs and RBIs, and led KT's pitching staff to a stable defense as well, taking the lead in securing a miraculous ticket to the semifinals. Of course, we cannot rely solely on one Jang. It is worth watching with interest how much Kang will play as a catcher this year.

Currently, there are few hitters in the league who are as aggressive as Kang Baek-ho in his age, but if he has the defensive ability as a catcher, his ransom will exceed 10 billion won only a matter of time, and he will be able to look beyond that. Expectations are high on what performance Kang Baek-ho will show right before he appears in the FA market.