Son Ah-seop, who was reborn as a “hitting god” in the NC Dinos. Son was the center hitter for the Lotte Giants. After setting foot with Lotte in 2007, he stayed with Lotte for 15 years until 2021. The following year, he left for NC the second year alone. The fans were very disappointed. Son also left in regret. Three years later, he finally revealed his reason.
“Lotte is my hometown team. I’ve never left Busan for 35 years,” Son said on Lee Dae-ho’s YouTube channel RE:DAEHO, which was released on Wednesday. “I went to my parents’ home when I was a student and even a kindergarten,” Son said. “My hometown is the same.”
Nevertheless, he explained that his departure from Lotte was based on the difference in annual salary. “There is no need to lie, and the amount difference (which was suggested by Lotte and NC) was too big,” he explained. “For a professional baseball player, the annual salary is the value of the player.” He signed a four-year contract worth 6.4 billion won with the NC Dinos at the 2021-2022 FA market. Lotte is estimated to have offered a much lower salary.
Son won two titles in batting in the 2023 KBO League. He played in 140 games and recorded a batting average of 0.339 with 187 hits. He ranks first in batting average and most hits. He has a batting average of 0.339 (39 hits in 115 times at bat) in terms of scoring ability. Notably, he was a strong hitter against chance by posting a batting average of 0.636 (7 hits in 11 times at bat) when runners on the second and third bases. In recognition of this, he won the 2023 Sports Seoul Batter of the Year award and the KBO Golden Glove for designated hitters.
The direction that Lotte was aiming for was also different from what Son was trying to take. “At that time, I thought my seat would be tight because (Lotte) was going to rebuild,” Son said. “My goal was to play games every year, but I felt anxious because the number of games would decrease and it might take a platoon (selective use).”
“I can’t help but rule out financially, but what’s bigger is that I thought a lot about where I can play more happily,” he said. “I had a very high batting average against left-handed pitchers, but there were times when I was out. I wanted to play a lot of games.”
Son also said, “Players shine when they are on the ground. I wanted to play every game,” adding, “I can’t open the atmosphere 100 percent at the time, but I chose a team (NC) that will play a lot of games. (NC) is a team that can play as much as possible.”
Lee Dae-ho also agreed. “Players often wonder if the first team I can trust is a team that can continue to let others go,” Lee said. Back then, the Lotte atmosphere was like that. He said he would keep raising his kids. If it was Ah-seop, he should have gone unconditionally.” At that time, Lee was also about a year away from retirement. 경마
Son was sluggish after moving. He had no hit in 20 times at bat after the first game. “When I moved to a different team for the first time, I felt more pressure than I thought. That’s when I realized the importance of mental health is important,” Son said. He also thanked NC. “I was grateful that the coaching staff and the coaches were nice to me, and younger players approached me. I adjusted comfortably.”