"I got thousands of bangs a day." ML 268 billion shortstop, Lee Jung-hoo was serious about "Why" Korean prospects

*This content was translated by AI.

San Francisco Giants' main shortstop Willie Adames (31) gave a blow to Korean prospects.

San Francisco, which includes Lee Jung-hoo (28), held a youth clinic for Korean amateur players at LG Champions Park in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do on the 7th. About 60 Deoksu players from Lee Jung-hoo's alma mater Hwimungo and last year's Cheongryonggi winning team were invited.

CEO Larry Baer, president of the baseball division Buster Posey, general manager Jack Minasian, manager Tony Bytelo, and player representative Lee Jung-hoo and Adames attended the event, co-hosted by the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB) and San Francisco.

It is extremely rare for CEOs, presidents, general managers, managers, and players to visit baseball youth clinics all at once. In addition, the business department accompanied the visit, implying that the purpose of marketing and promotion outside of baseball was great.

However, it is rumored that the baseball clinic was not an act of formality, but showed sincerity. In fact, San Francisco officials spent more than three hours coaching the players after a short 45-minute interview. In particular, Adames' infield defense part against Hwimungo and Deoksu players was very popular. Adames is a shortstop who was recognized for his value by signing a seven-year, $182 million (about 268.2 billion won) FA contract with San Francisco ahead of last season. It is regarded as a versatile shortstop who consistently recorded more than 20 home runs with a total of 180 home runs over eight seasons, showing a defense above the league average.

Yoo Je-min (18), the captain and main catcher of Hwimungo, who participated in the clinic, said, "I liked the part where Adames continued to smile and inspire confidence. "Even if I made a mistake, I laughed and told him to be confident unconditionally," he said. "The most impressive thing was to make a lot of effort to hit a double. He said that if you get into the habit of playing short, you become passive without realizing it. He recalled that he had to hit a big ball during practice to get a big hit in a game where there is actual pressure.

The clinic was also attended by leaders from Hwimungo and Deoksu High School. Coach Yang Jong-min (35) of Deoksu High School from the LG Twins was one of the leaders who took questions with him.

Coach Yang Jong-min said, "The players had fun and I received a lot of help. Recently, my concern was that players these days overlook the importance of defense and focus only on batting. "I don't want to do it because defense doesn't improve quickly, and I have to train a lot," he said.

It was Adames who sympathized with and helped with the concern. Coach Yang Jong-min said, "I was like that when I was active, and I still have no change in my opinion that I can survive in the first professional league only when I am a defense. Usually, I'm late if I go to the professional and realize this, but I don't think this will touch young players," he said.

"When I told Adames about this story, all I said at once was, 'I really agree'. He said he received hundreds or thousands of funkos a day from the Tampa Bay minor league team. Of course, at first, it was too hard and boring, but I heard that I got to come," he added.

He also said, "As I worked hard with the idea of winning this training, my defense began to increase. He said he has to defend a lot unconditionally and get a lot of funkos. In the U.S., they think defensive errors are worse than four strikeouts. It is said that mistakes are more fatal to breaking the team's flow than strikeouts. I always emphasize it to the players, but I just happened to be talking about it, so I asked the players to do it," he said.

It seems to have actually helped the players as well. Um Jun-sang (18), the No. 1 candidate in the KBO rookie draft this year as a captain of Deoksu High School and a key shortstop, recently met with Star News and said, "I could hear the advice I needed even in a really fun atmosphere for defense lectures. For example, when the coaches told me, there were some parts that I was confused about how it felt, but I was able to solve my curiosity," he said.

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*This content was translated by AI.