The team's senior winning catcher also expressed his regret over the departure of his junior catcher, who is more important than anyone else.
With the LG Twins' spring camp schedule in full swing at Indian School Park Baseball Field in Scottsdale, Arizona, on the 19th (Korea time), no one was seen in catcher's group training. It was Kim Bum-seok (20), who returned home early due to a failure in his physical management. Kim Bum-seok recently failed to complete the spring camp while on a plane to Korea due to an internal abdominal muscle injury.
"I honestly didn't know (Kim) Beom-seok was going," said Park Dong-won, who met at the camp site. "Our catchers are having a hard time, so we said, 'Hey, let's eat.' In fact, it was hard for young players to go out and eat pork belly, so I thought of eating meat. So I asked him to go out and he suddenly said, 'I'm going to Korea' on that day. So I was a little uncomfortable."
"But I think we had fun talking about it while eating. We didn't talk much about baseball. Honestly, I thought it's better not to talk about baseball a lot. I asked what my hobbies were, what I do on my days off, and Beom-seok was very sad. He said he was so sick and sad about going to Korea now, so I said just one thing."
"I don't think there's anyone who bats like you. I think it's enough if you prepare yourself well and make it again."
It was a warm word for Park Dong-won's junior.
Kim has been cited as a rising star to lead the future of LG's home turf. Kim is a first-rounder catcher who was highly praised by LG Twins general manager Cha Myung-seok for "becoming the epitome of Korean baseball" during the 2023 rookie draft. And in the 2024 season, Kim was expected to be guaranteed more opportunities to play. Yeom had even publicly vowed to raise him in January, but he got on a plane only to be injured due to his weight management failure.
Park Dong-won said, "Now (Kim) Bum-seok is in his second year, and when I saw him for the first time last year, I thought, 'There is no player who hits the bat like this.' He hit it so well. I thought this is why he was selected in the first round. Furthermore, if he does well, I even thought I should quit now. He's such a good player. But Bum-seok is actually very soft. He was very depressed, so I told him not to worry too much and I think he finished the meal well. It somehow became my last meal," he said honestly.
When asked by reporters if he was really different, he said, "He is different. I think he swings really well. He has good ability to hit the ball, and I thought about what I would have done at that age. That's why I think that way. I think that way more so. I was jealous when I was less than half of the time. If I had such good ability like Beom-Seok at that age, I would have done better now." Not only LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop and the coaching staff but also seniors who shared a close relationship with him at close range are expressing regret for Kim's departure due to his failed weight control.
BY: 스포츠토토