"Practice catching the ball with one hand," Kang Jung-ho and Kim Ha-sung's reason for success, Lee Jung-hoo, a teammate, said himself

*This content was translated by AI.

What do Kang Jung-ho (39, retired) and Kim Ha-sung (31, Atlanta Braves) have in common.

They are the only two Koreans who played full-time infielders in the U.S. Major League Baseball. Until their success, there was a negative perception that Asian infielders were not successful in the Major League. Kang Jung-ho and Kim Ha-sung were called offensive shortstop before entering the U.S. He showed a trick-like play that can sometimes be seen in the Major League with his strong shoulders, but overall, he was not evaluated as stable in defense. As a result, many did not easily expect that they would be able to play full-time as infielders when they entered the Major League.

However, in 2015, Kang Jung-ho played shortstop and third baseman well with the Pittsburgh Pirates, creating a crack in his preconceived notions. During the San Diego Padres, who entered the U.S. in 2021, Kim Ha-sung was the main character who broke that prejudice. Kim Ha-sung was a full-time shortstop in 2022 and was among the three finalists for the National League's Gold Glove shortstop category. In 2023, he was named as a Gold Glove shortstop and a finalist in the utility category, and became a winner in the utility category. He was the first Asian infielder to have a gold glove.

Kim Ha-sung and Kang Jung-ho were infielders who actively defended with strong shoulders. When I thought I could reach it, I didn't hesitate to challenge any ball, and many errors came out in the process. If Kim Ha-sung took the defensive range a little wider with his fast feet, Kang Jung-ho was the type to cover his slow feet with fast handling.

The two men's aggressive defense was different from the existing teachings that made the ball come from the front at the center of the body. Some field leaders also said that many players have not strong shoulders like Kim Ha-sung and Kang Jung-ho, so it is inevitable to reduce errors and stabilize defense.

One of the leaders who pointed out that both South Korea and the United States have a point is Larry Sutton (56), the former Lotte Giants coach. Former coach Sutton is a leader who has experienced both Korean and American baseball and has also served as a KBO league manager. In an interview with Star News ahead of Kim Ha-sung's Gold Glove award three years ago, he said, "Korean baseball certainly has solid defensive fundamentals. Amateur players are used to catching the ball in front of them with both hands when they just came to the profession," he said.

"The Major League puts importance on batting judgment and angle when defending the infield. It is to think about the angle from which it should be approached to be most convenient when throwing the ball. As a result, many players are used to moving freely from front to back, left and right, such as backhand catches or one-handed catches, he added, but understood another policy, saying, "Of course, there are things that Major League players can do because they have good shoulders."

After Kim Ha-sung's Gold Glove award, domestic leaders' policies have also changed little by little. However, there are still leaders who are curious because there is no right answer. One of them is coach Yang Jong-min (35) of Deoksu High School from the LG Twins. Coach Yang Jong-min recently led Deoksu's students to a baseball clinic jointly organized by the San Francisco Giants and the Major League Baseball in Korea. At the same time, he wrote down things to ask major league coaches.

Coach Yang said, "I study in my own way, but it was always frustrating that I couldn't ask questions directly. So I wrote down what I wanted to ask this time, and one-handed catch was one of them when defending the infield," he said. "Until I played, the ball was to come head-on unconditionally and then catch it with both hands and come to my chest. But these days, all major league players often go first and catch them with one hand," he added.

The advice of Lee Jung-hoo (28)'s San Francisco teammate and Willy Adames (31) was very helpful. Adames is a big shortstop who signed a seven-year, $182 million (about 268.2 billion won) FA contract with San Francisco ahead of last season. Even though his shoulder strength is not strong at the top 30 percent of the major leagues, Adames is also a shortstop who is in the top 11 percent of the major leagues in the OAA (Outs Above Average), one of the defensive indicators evaluated based on the difficulty of hitting last year.

Coach Yang said, "When I asked Adames why Major League players do that, he said that moving with one hand was to make his legs comfortable. He said that if you move your hands together and try to put your whole body in the center of the hit, your legs will harden. They asked if it was a move that athletes with athletic abilities, such as strong opinions, could make. But that wasn't it," he shook his head.

He continued, "I didn't mean to catch the ball with one hand. He said that if you make a routine of your body so that you can catch all the hits with one hand, your legs will be relaxed and you will be more effective in defense. In fact, when I and my disciples tried it, I couldn't catch a ball because I didn't have that habit," he added.

Adames' explanation was in line with coach Yang's theory that teaches the body to react to the usual batting first. It was also the reason why Kang Jung-ho and Kim Ha-sung were recognized for their defense in the Major League and succeeded. He also stepped up instead for his disciples who were struggling to train defense through the COVID-19 era. Coach Yang said, "My concern in recent years has been 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.

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

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 say that, so I asked the players to do it," he said.

On that day, Adames received a lot of response from Deoksu and Hwimungo players for his passionate guidance, such as demonstrating himself. Eom Joon-sang (18), a shortstop at Deoksugo High School who participated in the clinic, said, "I was able to hear the advice I needed even in a really interesting atmosphere of 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.