‘Once motivated, forever motivated’…A friendship story of same-age siblings who hit the FA jackpot
‘It’s a friend. We met because we succeeded like this’ In the
2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League match between Hanwha Eagles and LG Twins held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the afternoon of the 21st, a warm scene of LG Oh Ji-hwan and Hanwha Chae Eun-seong was captured.
At the end of the 6th inning, Oh Ji-hwan, who came out as a pinch hitter with 2nd, 2nd and 3rd base, got a walk and walked out. Hanwha first baseman Chae Eun-seong smiled brightly as he saw Oh Ji-hwan walking from afar. And the two players showed off their friendship by talking for a long time.
And the friendship between the two players continued even after the match. After the game, Hanwha players escaped, but Chae Eun-seong remained in the third base dugout. Since the LG locker room is on the third base side, I knew the LG players were coming this way. Oh Ji-hwan also moved quickly after seeing that Chae Eun-seong was waiting at the third base dugout. And the two players shrugged their shoulders and continued to talk about what they couldn’t finish during the game.
Why are the two players so close?
Oh Ji-hwan of LG and Eun-seong Chae of Hanwha joined the LG Twins in the same year in 2009, and they were the same age.
However, the positions of the two players were clearly different and they did not stay together for a long time. This is because Oh Ji-hwan was the first designated player and Chae Eun-seong was a foster player. The two players sweated together in the 2nd team in the first year of joining, but from the following year Oh Ji-hwan played in the 1st team and could not be together.
Oh Ji-hwan, who received attention from the time he joined, had a hard time earning the nickname ‘Oh Ji-bae’ (Oh Ji-hwan, who controls the game). ‘Oh Domination’ was a player who evoked many fans’ complaints as it meant that one mistake of shortstop Oh Ji-hwan, who had a lot of ups and downs in defense in the beginning of his debut, could decide the outcome of a game. However, as a result of constant efforts without giving up, he has now become the league’s leading shortstop. Oh Ji-hwan won the shortstop Golden Glove last season. As a result, Oh Ji-hwan signed a super-large non-FA contract with LG for a total of 12.4 billion won for 6 years with one year left before acquiring the FA (free agent).
Chae Eun-seong did not receive a professional nomination, so he joined as an LG training player. He was later assigned his uniform number in 2013 after completing active military service in the Honor Guard. There were many crises where he almost quit baseball, but Pina survived by continuing his efforts. And in 10 years he has grown into the team’s leading hitter. Last season, he did his part by serving as the 4th hitter for the LG lineup, which had no foreign players. As a result, he hit the FA jackpot with Hanwha last winter as a free agent (free agent) for a total of 9 billion won over 6 years.체스카지노
Both players hit the FA jackpot together last winter as a hard-working group loved by fans for their sincere appearance and solid performance. Although they now wear different uniforms, their friendship has not changed. Oh Ji-hwan and Chae Eun-seong were happy to see their comrades, who had been together for a long time, doing well in their respective positions, and broke up cheering each other.