Dong-hee Yoon (20), one of the Lotte Giants’ biggest hits this season. In the ‘Lotte’, which is starting anew, he also welcomes the 2024 season with new determination.
Dong-hee Yoon recently met with Star News at Sangdong Baseball Stadium in Gimhae-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, where Lotte’s finishing training is being held, and said, “I make sure that ‘this is my seat’ so that when other players see it, they don’t think, ‘I would do better if I go over there.’ “I will show it to you,” he said, determined.스포츠토토
Dong-hee Yoon, who graduated from Yatap High School and joined Lotte in 2022, only appeared in 4 games for the first team in his first season (batting average of 0.154). However, he showed potential in the Futures League with a batting average of 0.310, 6 home runs, and an OPS of 0.839 in 77 games. An infielder when he joined, he worked hard to enter the first team, starting as a center fielder and then playing in the outfield.
Although he was not included in the opening lineup this season, after being called up on April 23rd, he took over the starting position in earnest from mid-May. Yoon Dong-hee, who quickly adapted to the first team, finished the first half of the season on a positive note with his batting average of 0.321. Continuing his good batting, he was eventually selected to the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games national team as a pinch hitter for Lee Ui-ri (KIA), and won a gold medal with a batting average of 0.435 (10 hits in 23 at-bats) in 6 games, and even received special treatment for military service. Dong-Hee Yoon played in 107 games this year, recording a batting average of 0.287, 2 home runs, 41 RBIs, 3 stolen bases, and an OPS of 0.687.
Donghee Yoon was selected for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games national team.
Dong-hee Yoon looked back on the season, saying, “When you look at it from the outside, you say, ‘It’s such a brilliant season. It’s a lucky season.’ But for me, there were twists and turns in every situation.” He also said, “Even in my opinion, this year has gone incredibly well. I think it is a season in which I have been rewarded for all the hardships I suffered as an amateur and in the second team last year. There are so many things I felt that I can’t talk about them all.” He said, “I had a hard time, but I shouldn’t think of it as hard work. I was given an opportunity, so I should be grateful.”
His transition to the outfield was also successful. This year, Dong-Hee Yoon mainly played right field (716⅓ innings), but also gained experience in left field (23⅓ innings) and center fielder (69⅓ innings). He said, “When I first moved to the outfield, I had regrets, and I thought I could do well if I played the infield again. After starting this season, I became an outfielder. Now, I feel awkward with the infield glove, and (in the preparation movement) ) It’s awkward to get ready with my gloves down. I think I’ve adapted well to being an outfielder,” he said with a laugh. He said, “I think I need a sense of stability, and I need to practice throwing more,” and expressed satisfaction, saying, “I went to the national team and asked (Choi) Won-jun and (Kang) Baek-ho a lot about defense and applied what I learned, and the balance was good.” revealed.
Kim Tae-hyung, the new manager of the Lotte Giants, is holding a meeting with players at Sangdong Baseball Stadium in Gimhae on the 25th.
After completing a season with many twists and turns, Dong-Hee Yoon is now preparing for next year’s season with a new head coach. New manager Kim Tae-hyung (56), who took office on the 20th, boasts a brilliant career of 645 total wins and three Korean Series championships. Even at his inauguration press conference, he showed charisma in a relaxed manner.
In particular, Coach Kim issued a warning to young starting players, including Dong-hee Yoon and Min-seok Kim (19). He said, “What I always want to tell the players who were back-ups and then played as starters in the first team is that they only have the thought that they will do better next year than now. When I was at Doosan, I also talked to some players and said, ‘I will do this next year. “I said that it was absolutely an illusion to think that I would do better than that,” he said. He went on to say, “(Young players) really need to prepare well.”
In response, Donghee Yoon said, “I think the director’s words came out of anger rather than a warning. I was aware of that and thought I should prepare well, but when the director spoke officially, I thought, ‘This is really important,’ and thought I should prepare well for the winter. “I felt that.
Lotte’s new coach Kim Tae-hyung (far right) is shaking hands with Yoon Dong-hee.
To achieve this, Dong-hee Yoon has been sweating hard since the final training. He confessed, “I hit as many as four tee boxes,” and “I changed my batting form a little to make up for the problem when it didn’t work, but as I did so, my batting form gradually disappeared. I was so angry and didn’t like it, so I hit it like that.” . He continued, “When the director said, ‘Don’t think you’ll do well next year,’ I think he was saying that you shouldn’t be that greedy.”
Dong-hee Yoon is in the recovery group in the first round of Lotte’s finishing training, which started on the 25th. This is the stage of preparing to begin training while relieving the fatigue accumulated during the season. Nevertheless, he is showing his competitive spirit and has been increasing his practice from the beginning. It can be said that he has great determination.
Dong-hee Yoon is waiting for the new director system more than anyone else. He said, “The team has to do well for the players to shine, but this year was very disappointing,” and added, “Now that we have a good coach, we will have good results next year.” At the same time, he said, “I will prepare well with the new coach, work hard, and work hard to fit my role next year.”