Hanwha and 5 Billion Shim Woo-jun Butterfly Effect... Park Chan-ho → Park Sung-han's reservation for a big hit, will the era of the FA market's major shortstop begin
Hanwha and 5 Billion Shim Woo-jun Butterfly Effect... Park Chan-ho → Park Sung-han's reservation for a big hit, will the era of the FA market's major shortstop begin
Blog Article
In early November, a news came to the KIA coaching staff and the front desk, who were in the midst of a wrap-up camp in Okinawa. It was news that shortstop Shim Woo-joon (29), who was in negotiations as a free agent (FA), left his original team kt and moved to Hanwha.메이저놀이터
Shim Woo-joon was also a player that he was trying to catch at KT, his original team. It was especially true because he was a key player in KT's coach Lee Kang-chul's idea. It was also surprising that Hanwha quickly recruited Shim Woo-joon, who surprised Kia even more. Shim signed a four-year contract with Hanwha for a total of 5 billion won, of which the down payment and annual salary combined were 4.2 billion won. It was higher than everyone expected. Naturally, people were asking "How much should Park Chan-ho give then?"
Hanwha put on the table the amount that its original team KT decided could not propose to negotiate Shim Woo-joon. It did not measure this or that. It left it up to the players to decide whether to bet the maximum amount and sign a contract without further negotiations. It is interpreted that KT had confidence that it could not keep up with this amount. It was also the reason why Shim Woo-joon finished his contract relatively early.
Shim Woo-joon is a good shortstop. He has good defense and good main focus. Moreover, he is strong. Since he got on track, he has suffered no significant injury. He has good fighting spirit. He contributes to the team far more than his superficial performance. After completing his military service, he had a batting average of 0.266, three homers and 28 RBIs in 53 games this year, contributing to his team's struggles for fall. He was clearly a popular player. Nevertheless, not many officials thought of the amount of 5 billion won. Shortstop does not have a lot of long balls, and his on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in 1,072 games in the first division of the KBO League was not that high at 0.639.
However, Hanwha's willingness to strengthen its defense and base running was firmly established, and the contract is now officially confirmed. It is important that this contract can serve as a standard for shortstop in the future FA market. Usually, the player's future value and previous performance are the most important issues when signing an FA contract, but similar player's contract can be used as a reference.
Park Chan-ho (29) of the Kia Tigers, who is the same age as Shim Woo-joon, is expected to benefit the most. Park, who had many ups and downs in his career as a first-team and main player since his childhood, has been reborn as a league-class shortstop by improving his weaknesses through the 2022 season. Having shown off his flagship and energetic defense based on one of the league's best senses, Park has shown off his good offense capability, and his value is soaring.
In fact, Park Chan-ho, whose batting average is 0.262 in 954 games for the first division of the KBO League, continued to increase with 0.272 in 2022, 0.301 in 2023, and 0.307 in 2024. He was a shortstop for the second consecutive year. He is enjoying his heyday by winning the Golden Glove in the shortstop category in 2024. Like Shim, he does not have many long balls, but analysts say that he is better than Shim when analyzing his overall offensive productivity so far. Since Shim received 5 billion won for four years, Park's standard will be higher than that.
If Park Chan-ho signs a contract with Shim Woo-joon or higher amid a headache for his team KIA, his next turn can also benefit from the series. Park Sung-han (26, SSG), who competed for the league's best shortstop this year along with Park Chan-ho, could see his value soar further. Since becoming SSG's main shortstop in 2021, Park has not let go of the title as the league's top shortstop. He has posted .301 with 10 homers, 67 RBIs and an OPS of 0.791, which is his best season in his career, in 137 games. In terms of offense power, he can be evaluated higher than Shim Woo-joon.
Park Sung-han, who will be eligible for FA at the age of 29 and Park Chan-ho at the age of 30, will also appear in the FA market at the age of 29 if he fills up the next three seasons of registration. Park Sung-han is likely to have a longer time to show his skills in his prime, and if he continues his current level of performance, he is expected to have enormous value. On the other hand, since there are not a few promising young shortstop in the league such as Lee Jae-hyun (Samsung) and Kim Joo-won (NC), the prospect that the era of major shortstop will open in the FA market for a while is also persuasive.