The KIA Tigers of the professional baseball league will continue negotiations with Seo Geon-chang (36), an internal free agent infielder. Attention is focusing on whether Seo will be able to dramatically stay at Kia before leaving the U.S. spring camp.
Although the years have passed, there are still five players in the KBO league who have yet to find a destination. They are Seo Geon-chang, Ha Joo-seok, Lee Yong-chan, Moon Sung-hyun, and Kim Sung-wook. One of them is receiving the most attention. Seo Geon-chang, who is known for his diligence in the baseball world.
How are negotiations going between KIA and Seo Kun-chang? "We are reaching an agreement. We should finish it soon before we leave the spring camp," KIA's general manager Shim Jae-hak told Star News on Sunday.
Seo Kun-chang has been a prominent second baseman of the KBO league. He has received the Golden Glove award three times (2012, 2014 and 2016). After being released after joining the LG Twins as a nurturing player in 2008, he showed full-fledged skills with the Nexen Heroes. He was named the Rookie of the Year in 2012 and the MVP of the season in 2014.
Notably, he set a new record of 200 hits (201) for the first time in the KBO league in 2014. He had a batting average of 0.325, 182 hits, seven homers, 63 RBIs, and 0.847 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in the 2016 season.
It was in 2021 that Seo made a big difference. In July of that year, Seo left the Kiwoom Heroes through a 1:1 trade with Jeong Chan-heon to wear the LG Twins uniform. During the 2021 season, Seo played in all games (144 games) and kept the second base firmly as a veteran. Seo's performance that year was unsatisfactory compared to his peak performance with a batting average of 0.253, six homers, 52 RBIs, 78 points, and OPS of 0.693. To make matters worse, his FA rating was upgraded from B to A along with his transfer. In the end, Seo became a free agent that year, but he boldly gave up and chose to try again.
In the 2022 season, he has had fewer chances to play in games. He recorded a batting average of 0.224 with two homers, 18 RBIs and 39 runs scored with an OPS of 0.605 in 77 games. After receiving an A grade in the 2022 season, Seo made the final decision to give up his right to apply as an FA again.
And Seo is off to a good start to the 2023 season, bracing himself for the third place as a free agent. He has also been in charge of starting second baseman by posting an exhibition game batting average of 0.362. However, his performance did not improve completely, and he was notified to join the second team in May. While Seo was away for a while, a Cinderella named Shin Min-jae appeared. Eventually, he left the team, asking for her release after the end of the season.
With the 2024 season just around the corner, Seo has been struggling to build up his physical fitness by continuing to train in his hometown of Gwangju. The team that gave him a hand was the fourth baseman of the Kia Tigers. Seo did his best as always. He played in 94 games in 2024, posting a batting average of 0.310 (63 hits in 203 at-bats), one homer, two doubles, one triple, 40 runs scored and three steals (one failed), 36 walks, and achieved a perfect rebound with 31 strikeouts and a 0.404 on-base plus slugging percentage (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 0.820, a batting average of 0.344 in the scoring area, and a batting average of 0.346.
Seo played the role of backup first baseman and second baseman evenly, displaying stellar performance like an Altoran. Notably, he posted a high batting average of 0.375 (24 hits in 77 at-bats in 34 games) in the second half, contributing significantly to Kia's overall win. He won the Korean Series for the first time in his life. After the end of the season, he finally exercised his dream of becoming an FA player. Personally, he was happy as well. On March 14, he signed a 100-year-old partnership with his bride Park Jong-mi, welcoming his lifelong partner. 메이저사이트
Kia also clearly recognizes Seo's value. "He performed well in winning the championship last year," Shim said. "Even though he did not play many at-bats last season, he did a good job in contributing to the team's victory. As a backup agent, he also said, "There was a slight difference in the amount (of conditions each of us wanted), but we are reducing it to some extent now. We will be able to tell you the news soon." KIA will leave its spring camp in Irvine, California, the U.S. on the 23rd. Under what conditions will Kia and Seo Geon-chang's FA contract be made? When will he be able to hear it? Baseball fans are paying attention to Gwangju.