*This content was translated by AI.
LG Twins Lee Jae-won (27), who returned from his mandatory military service, made him look forward to the 2026 season with a mature mentality.
In an interview with reporters ahead of the "2026 LG Twins New Year's Greetings" held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 6th, Lee Jae-won said, "Everything is new."
Lee Jae-won, who graduated from Cheongju Seokgyo Elementary School, Seoul Kyungwon Middle School, and Seoul High School, is a promising right-handed pitcher who joined LG as the 17th in the second round of the 2018 KBO Rookie Draft. After his debut in the first division in 2020, he was expected to hit 13 home runs in 2022, but he showed a stagnant performance and chose to join the Armed Forces Sports Unit in June 2024.
Even then, there was a saying that it was late, but for now, it was the best choice. Lee Jae-won hit 40 home runs for two seasons in Sangmu, proving why he is a player expected by LG fans. In particular, he bombed the Futures League with his friend Han Dong-hee (27, Lotte Giants) of the same age with a batting average of 0.329 (91 hits in 277) in 78 games last year, 26 home runs, 91 RBIs and 81 runs, and an on-base percentage of 0.457 slugging percentage.
What made him different. Lee Jae-won said, "Nothing has changed technically. I changed my mind a little bit. I paid a little more attention to the process and just how to take the direction," he said.
However, it was feared that the ratio of walks to strikeouts deteriorated from 34 walks and 50 strikeouts in the first year of Sangmu to 58 walks and 108 strikeouts in the last year. In response, Lee Jae-won said, "I tried not to be stressed by the strikeouts. As a person, of course, I was annoyed and angry when I was struck out, but I removed the person who tried not to collapse as much as possible." "The first team is a place where you have to produce results, so I've tried a lot of things that I haven't been able to do for two years at Sangmu. Some have succeeded and some have failed, and I tried to increase the success rate as much as possible in the first team," he added.
LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop also expressed his expectations after winning the Korean Series, saying, "I guarantee Lee Jae-won at least 300 at-bats in 120 games." In addition, he announced his intention to use Lee Jae-won as the designated hitter on the same day, allowing him to focus only on hitting on the first-team stage. In response, Lee Jae-won said, "It doesn't matter what position you are in. The first thing to do is to do my best when I have the opportunity I'm given. If I do well, I will play less than 120 games, and if I don't, I won't be able to play that either. I'm just going to go with the flow."
The more mature mental was outstanding. Lee Jae-won received a lot of expectations even when he came to the professional league, but he is a little behind in his career in terms of draft motives due to slow growth. One of the comparison targets is Kang Baek-ho (27, Hanwha Eagles), a friend of Seoul High School and a colleague of the draft. Kang Baek-ho won the Rookie of the Year award in his first year as a professional and played for KT Wiz until last year, growing into a national player. He also won the Korean Series, and this winter, he signed a four-year, 10 billion won contract as a major FA and headed to Hanwha.
Lee Jae-won said, "(Kang) Baek-ho's contract is really something to celebrate and good news. It's a good motivation for me, too. But I've never thought about more than that. I only thought about what I could do right now," he said calmly.
Han Dong-hee is in a similar situation. Han Dong-hee, a Kyungnam High School graduate, was also called the second Lee Dae-ho and received a lot of expectations. However, he joined Sangmu with Lee Jae-won without producing clear results. It is similar to Lee Jae-won's performance in Sangmu and receiving expectations from his team. Lee Jae-won said, "I talked a lot with Dong-hee (Han). I exchanged a lot of feedback, such as hitting form and how to solve it when I was wandering," he said with a smile.
I focused on weight training when I was thinking about useless things. Yoon Joon-ho (26, Doosan Bears) who joined the army was a great help. Lee Jae-won said, "I wanted to do weight training systematically, but I didn't do well. But (Yoon) Jun-ho was good, so I kept following him and kept doing it," he said. "When I returned, coach Kim Yong-il and trainers helped me a lot. I don't want to get hurt as much as possible, so I'm working out hard."
Coincidentally, when he returned, senior Kim Hyun-soo left for KT on a three-year, 5 billion won FA contract. Naturally, he is expected to fill Kim Hyun-soo's void. Lee Jae-won said, "(Kim) Hyun-soo was a great player I've seen since elementary school. I was a really good player and a favorite senior, but when I said I had to fill the gap, I felt a lot of pressure," he said, but added, "I think the priority is to do what I can one by one. For now, I'm only thinking about that," he said.
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*This content was translated by AI.
