*This content was translated by AI.
Even with the naked eye, the body shape that has changed at a glance catches the eye. An Chi-hong (36), an infielder who has built a new nest in the Kiwoom Heroes, has become a hot topic. He is sweating in the spring camp for the third base of the "hot corner" with a sharp jawline.
An Chi-hong left for Kaohsiung, the site of Kiwoom's spring camp, via Incheon International Airport on January 22. I started my first turn on January 25th, and after a day off, I'm already doing my second turn. According to Kiwoom's release through various channels, An Chi-hong's body was clearly slimmer. In response, An Chi-hong caused a lot of controversy.
Ahn Chi-hong met with reporters ahead of his departure, saying, "After the 2025 season, I continued to build my body after a short break. To be honest, it was also because his team didn't do much last year. The goal is to keep going up without injury through the spring camp," he said calmly.
An Chi-hong is an infielder who has a respectable career. Ahn Chi-hong, who graduated from Daechi Middle School and Seoul High School, wore the KIA Tigers uniform as the No. 1 overall first-round pick in the second KBO rookie draft in 2009. Having played in the first division since his 2009 debut season, he moved to the Lotte Giants through a free agent (FA) contract in the 2020 season. Since then, he has signed his second career FA contract with the Hanwha Eagles.
An Chi-hong, who played in 1,814 KBO League games through KIA, Lotte, and Hanwha, recorded a career batting average of 0.294 (1859 hits in 6324) with 155 home runs and 927 RBIs. However, the 2025 season was a career low for An Chi-hong. He failed to make the Korean Series entry due to a slump in batting average of 0.172 (30 hits in 174 times at bat) with two home runs and 18 RBIs in 66 games. In the end, he failed to enter the second draft protected player, which was held after the 2025 season.
Kiwoom, which had the first pick, was the first to call An Chi-hong in the second draft. He brought it with such high expectations. Since then, Song Sung-moon (30) has left for the San Diego Padres in the Major League, and the club's plan to make him compete for the third baseman has also been delivered to An Chi-hong. Ahn Chi-hong mainly played second baseman on the professional stage and began to double as a first baseman in the 2018 season. The third baseman is certainly unfamiliar to An Chi-hong.
It is widely believed that the third base, called the "hot corner," requires agile quickness due to frequent hitting. This is why An Chi-hong's choice, which made his body light through weight loss, can be a divine move. An Chi-hong also burned his will to melt into the team's idea, saying that he only had three gloves on his way out of the spring camp.
An Chi-hong is trying to clean up last year's slump and become a new vitality for the hero corps. Attention is focusing on how his "sharp third base defense," which is being tempered in Kaohsiung, will change Kiwoom's infield in the 2026 season.
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*This content was translated by AI.
