Behind-the-scenes story of Son Ah-seop's surprise trade → "The first side that proposed a trade to Hanwha..." Today (14th), he joined the first-team squad immediately, and will Doosan be a 'God's move'

*This content was translated by AI.

Doosan Bears and Hanwha Eagles made a surprise trade. Instead of sending Son Ah-seop (28) to Doosan from Hanwha, pitcher Lee Kyo-hoon (26), who played for Doosan, will wear the Hanwha uniform. On top of that, Hanwha decided to receive up to 150 million won in cash.

Doosan and Hanwha officially announced on the 14th, "Instead of outfielder Son Ah-seop heading to Doosan, Hanwha made a trade from Doosan for pitcher Lee Kyo-hoon and 150 million won in cash."

An official from the Doosan team, who recruited "Veteran batter" Son Ah-seop in a surprise move, explained the background, saying, "We made a trade to strengthen the team's batting lineup."

"Son Ah-seop is a veteran hitter with one of the best levels of experience in the league," he said. "Currently, his skills are also competitive." "I look forward to Son Ah-seop's role as a clubhouse leader as well as sophistication at bat," he said.

I could also hear the back story. A Doosan official said on the phone with Star News on the same day, "The trade discussion began at the Hanwha match held at Jamsil Stadium from the 3rd to the 5th. At that time, our club first proposed to Hanwha. And after coordination, we made an official announcement," he explained.

In addition, Hanwha said, "We recruited Lee Kyo-hoon with the aim of strengthening the left-hander bullpen depth. Lee Kyo-hoon is also expected to fill the void caused by the military service obligations of left-handers (Hwang Joon-seo, Cho Dong-wook, Kwon Min-gyu, Kang Kyung-woo, etc.) in the team."

Lee Kyo-hoon is a left-hander who was drafted by Doosan in the second and third rounds of the 2019 rookie draft. He has a 2-1 record and a 7.28 ERA in 59 KBO league games. In the 2025 season, he pitched in 10 games and marked one win with a 1.17 ERA.

Meanwhile, Son Ah-seop has played in 2,169 KBO league games with a batting average of 0.319 (2,618 hits in 8205 times at bat), 182 home runs, 463 doubles, 37 triples, 1086 RBIs, 1,400 runs, 232 steals (72 failed), a ball that fits 41 bodies with 1,336 strikeouts, a slugging percentage of 0.451 and an on-base percentage of 0.391.

Son Ah-seop signed a four-year 9.8 billion won contract with Lotte after the 2017 season and a four-year 6.4 billion won contract with NC after the end of the 2021 season, respectively. A total of 16.2 billion won was earned through two FA rights exercises. The recent FA contract period with NC was four years, with a total of 6.4 billion won, including 2.6 billion won in down payment, 3 billion won in annual salary, and 800 million won in incentives. It received an annual salary of 1.5 billion won in 2022 and 500 million won every season from 2023 to 2025.

Hanwha acquired Son Ah-seop through a trade with NC in July last year. At that time, Hanwha paid NC one third-round pick of the 2026 KBO Rookie Draft and 300 million won in cash. It was the value Hanwha put on Son Ah-seop, who was recruited at the end of last season for the autumn baseball game.

He played in more than 100 games except for a single season (2024 seasons) from the 2010 season to the last season. He also hit .300 for nine consecutive seasons from the 2010 season to the 2018 season, and also hit triple-digit hits for 14 consecutive seasons from the 2010 season to the 2023 season. In the 2023 season, he became the first in KBO league history to hit 150 hits for eight consecutive seasons. In June 2024, he surpassed Park Yong-taek's (2504 hits) record and became the hero of the most hits in KBO history. Last season, he proved himself strong with a batting average of 0.288 (107 hits in 372 at-bats) and one homer, 50 RBIs and 39 runs scored in 111 games.

Son Ah-seop exercised his sacred free agent (FA) right after the end of last season. But the team looking for him didn't show up. In the end, he remained with Hanwha, his original club, under the condition of 100 million won per year. Son Ah-seop was named in the opening entry of the 2026 season, raising expectations for his performance this season. Although he was excluded from the starting lineup, he also played in the opening game against the Kiwoom Heroes. He was replaced by a pinch hitter and played one at-bat on the ground. But that was it. He was removed from the first team entry on the 30th of last month.

And Son headed to the second team. He played three games in the Futures League. His grades were not bad, either. a three-game hitting streak. He entered the eighth at-bat and hit three hits, including a double. He walked two and struck out once. In the matches against the SSG Landers Futures team on the 4th and 5th, he played one hit and one point in two at-bats, respectively. He then marked one hit and one score from four times at bat in the match against the Goyang Heroes on the 10th. However, he missed the last three games against the LG Twins without playing at all.

In fact, Son Ah-seop's absence from the first team was also threatening the No. 1 spot for the most hits in the KBO league. Choi Hyung-woo (43, Samsung Lions) recorded his 2,599th career hit against the Daegu NC Dinos on the 12th, closely chasing Son Ah-seop's record of most hits (2,618) in KBO history. There are only 19 differences. In addition, Kim Hyun-soo (38, KT Wiz) is also trailing the two, marking 2,549 hits in his career. However, as the trade was made in a surprise move this time, the competition for the most hits in KBO history is expected to catch fire again. If Son Ah-seop shows a good performance, it could be truly a "one-shot" for Doosan. Doosan fans' expectations are getting higher.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.