A month's salary has evaporated and is no longer a mainstay...Will 5 Billion FA's Crash End Be Answered in the U.S
A month's salary has evaporated and is no longer a mainstay...Will 5 Billion FA's Crash End Be Answered in the U.S
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As hope faded and was on the brink, Lotte Giants infielder Noh Jin-hyuk (36) of professional baseball crossed the Pacific Ocean on a flight to the United States.
In November 2022, Noh signed a four-year, five-billion-won free agent contract with Lotte, his neighborhood next door, after leaving his former club with the NC Dinos. Lotte had planned to assign Noh the position as its main shortstop. At that time, Noh was about to narrow down to the growth of young infielders such as Kim Joo-won and Seo Ho-cheol at NC Dinos. Lotte needed shortstop and NC needed traffic control. With this situation fitting, Noh has made a fresh start with Lotte.
He was the clutch heater that spearheaded Lotte's rise in the early days of the 2023 season as the starting shortstop. He played the role of troubleshooter in important moments and served as a detonator for Lotte's batters. However, Noh's momentum did not last long due to chronic back pain and side injury. His performance was eroded by injuries sustained before and after the All-Star break. He only posted a batting average of 257 (86 hits in 334) with four home runs and 51 RBIs in 113 games with an OPS of .724. Lotte recruited Noh and introduced him as a shortstop who can hit 20 home runs, but Noh answered with the fewest home runs since taking off during the full-time season.
He is now at a new starting line in 2024. Kim Tae-hyung has been newly recruited, and Noh Jin-hyuk has also sought to revive as the main shortstop once again. This time, however, he was blamed as the cause for Lotte's sluggishness in the early days of this season. Noh was struggling amid a severe slump, and was unable to overcome his batting average of around 100%. He completely lost to Park Seung-wook at the position of the main shortstop. As Son Ho-young, who joined the team through trade from LG, took a hard hit, Noh has virtually no position this year. He was excluded from the first team for 53 days through June 24.
Since then, Noh has spent longer time waiting in the bench. He also completely lost his place as a shortstop to Park Seung-wook. Since mid-season, coaching staff including manager Kim Tae-hyung considered Noh to be a corner infielder, including third baseman and first baseman. He judged that he could no longer defend shortstop. His cheerfulness disappeared at some point.
Roh, whose annual salary was 600 million won last year, was reduced in accordance with Article 73 (2) of the KBO Rules as he remained in the second division due to sluggish performance, not a special injury. "If a player fails to register as an active player due to reasons attributable to him or her poor performance, the amount of the player's annual salary multiplied by the number of days he or she failed to register as an active player shall be reduced from his or her annual salary." Roh stayed in the second division for a total of 58 days. If the club did not compensate for it separately, Roh lost about 58 million won in annual salary last year. In other words, a month's salary has evaporated.
This is the third year of his contract as a free agent. He is no longer a key player. As a pro, he needs to regain his position. As if he can't back down like this, he is diligently conducting training sessions during the off-season. Last year during the off-season, he had individual training sessions in and out of Changwon, his home state of NC, and Sajik Stadium, but this year he already crossed the Pacific Ocean early on. This reporter visited Coach Hur Il, who is a batting coach at Ajusa Pacific University in the U.S., and is giving individual lessons to amateur players.
Last year, NC Dinosaurs Park Min-woo and Kim Sung-wook received assistance. This year, Park will also hold individual training sessions in January with coach Huh Il. "He studies a lot and is very talented. I experienced it once last year, and I got great results. I got a lot of help in developing my own theories, and I got to train with him this year as well," Park said. This year, Park Geon-woo will meet Coach Huh Il right before joining the Arizona Spring camp and conduct training with him. Also known as Kang Jung-ho School, Son Ah-seop also received a lot of help from Coach Huh Il. Rumors say Roh Jin-hyuk's new direction of hitting is also going well. 먹튀검증
However, in the end, he has to prove himself. Roh must regain trust from coaching staff including coach Kim Tae-hyung. The upcoming competition for the season has become more difficult. Gone are the days when free agents no longer guarantee a starting position. Existing shortstop Park Seung-wook and third baseman Sohn Ho-young are expected to start in the starting positions. On top of that, he also needs to compete with young infielders such as Lee Ho-joon and Jeon Min-jae. While Noh has been sluggish, more and more hills are ahead of him.
Still, no player has made a career like Noh Jin-hyuk. He has already hit 20 home runs as the main shortstop and has the know-how to play a full-time season. The third baseman position is not awkward. If Noh Jin-hyuk succeeds in rebounding, Lotte will also have a super utility player who can play shortstop, third baseman, and first baseman. Although he was heavily dependent on the starting lineup last year, if Noh Jin-hyuk plays in the right place this year, he is expected to be a boost to Debs.
Will Roh Jin-hyuk be able to find answers again in the U.S. and ignite the flame of competition that has been made.