Chosun Sports = Reporter Na Yu-ri
Jong-Hoon Park. DB Sports Choice
[인천=스포츠조선 나유리 기자]”When did I ever have any honor? Now I have to make sure I never hear things like this again.”
2020 Jong-Hoon Park. DB Sports Choice
SSG Landers Park Jong-hoon’s face became half. It’s not like I lost weight through mental toughness. He lost 14kg through a strict diet during the off-season. I run over 10km a day, and only eat a small amount of raw food, such as carrots and lettuce, in the evening. This is to find the best form before.
Jong-Hoon Park is interviewed by reporters in Landersfield on the 3rd. Photo = Landers SSG
Together with Seung-won Moon, Jong-hoon Park, the first official non-FA multi-year contract in the history of the KBO League, has reached the ‘jackpot’ of 6.5 billion won over 5 years (including 900 million and earned in incentives). The SSG club treated Park Jong-hoon, the team’s franchisee, with courtesy before fulfilling the FA’s demands, and Park Jong-hoon, who is very fond of the team, happily signed.
After signing the contract, he underwent elbow surgery and rehabilitation and returned during the 2022 season, but the two seasons after his return were a series of hardships. 2022 season 11 games, 3 wins, 5 losses, 6.00 average ERA, 2023 season 18 games, 2 wins, 6 losses, 6.19 average ERA. It was hard to see this as the performance of a starting pitcher who was responsible for one axis of the rotation. Poor ball control and a strangely unbalanced performance inevitably led to a decline in performance. The number of days lost in rotation increased, and the amount of time spent in the second team increased. There were those days when I felt sorry for not being able to help the team.
And Park Jong-hoon heard the shocking news that he had been excluded from the 35-man protected list before the second draft last November. The SSG club informed veteran players such as Park Jong-hoon and Choi Joo-hwan among the players who were excluded from the defense list at the time and asked for their understanding. Choi Joo-hwan transferred to Kiwoom Heroes, but Park Jong-hoon was not selected by another team.
In fact, it is true that the fact that someone has been excluded from the protection list is not known to the outside world. It is polite to each other. However, in the case of Choi Joo-hwan and Park Jong-hoon, they were first team starters and had careers, so while the protected list was being introduced, rumors first spread through other clubs.
Park Jong-hoon always smiles warmly, but at this time, his heart was very hurt. Now I try to smile and talk about it, but it would be a lie if I said there wasn’t anything going on. Park Jong-hoon, who met at Landers Field in Incheon on the 3rd, said, “When I first heard (except for the protected list), I thought, what is it? Is it true? Is it a joke? But looking ago, I think I would have done the same thing if it was me or in that situation (making the list). The player “Honestly, it’s a sexual thing, right? We need to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. There is no answer other than that. You can’t say you’re angry because of it and not do it. I’m glad I didn’t go to another team. If I had gone, I might have actually suffered from depression,” he said. He said with a smile, but his disappointment was also evident.
Although he was born in Gunsan, Incheon, where he started his career as a player and raised a family, is now his second hometown. He is also the player who has the most affection for the team. Park Jong-hoon looked back at the time, saying, “I have a lot of feelings for the team. But honestly, would I take it with me? I thought other teams wouldn’t took him. I came out to the baseball field and covered my face.”
It’s not that I performed poorly because I didn’t work hard. For the last two years, I have trained non-stop, even on Mondays. I can confidently say that I have practiced more than anyone else.
So this time I chose the opposite. Now I have decided to spend time with my family and give up the focus I had on developing my power. Jong-Hoon Park decided to lose weight and focus more on his agility and flexibility. The will is to overcome the hardships faced by a submarine pitcher in any way possible.
Park Jong-hoon said with a smile, “My mother-in-law is constantly analyzing him. She says, ‘Jong-hoon, look at your weight at this time,’ and she compares the good times with the recent times.” He added, laughing, “When my performance was the best, I was in the low to mid 80 kg, but I gained a little bit at a time to get close to 100 kg. I started bulking up. “I was focused on doing it, but I realized it was too late. I feel like I threw away two years of hard work. I focus on flexibility rather than strength. I put everything together one by one,” he said explaining the reason for losing weight.
When asked, ‘How are you going to restore your honor this season?’, he replied, “Did I have honor? I just want to become a pitcher who doesn’t miss anything. I was so angry at myself for delaying ‘the rotation and only joining teams with good opposition records. I didn’t want to do that. “Now, I think the first task as a starting pitcher in the first team is to play a full season without that,” he emphasized.
Incheon = Reporter A Yu-ri youll@sportschosun.com
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