I won the championship I wanted to achieve so much and even shed hot tears. The 2023 season opens a new curtain for Choo Shin-soo, who has achieved everything.
Two seasons have passed since he returned to his home country after ending his major league career. SSG Landers Choo Shin-soo achieved his most-desired goal of winning the KBO league two years after entering the league. Choo Shin-soo has consistently expressed his desire to win the Korean Series since signing with SSG, and it became a reality in the 2022 season. Following his regular season victory, he even succeeded in winning the Korean Series. And she shed tears of joy ‘as predicted’.
He has accomplished everything as a player. He had a stellar career as a major leaguer, and returned home to put on his championship ring. However, his retirement is still far away. Choo Shin-soo has emphasized several times, “I don’t think I will be able to start the season by foretelling his retirement in advance like his friend Lee Dae-ho.” As I turned 42 in Korean age in the new year, I can’t help thinking about the end, but I’m still thirsty for the scene.
SSG coach Kim Won-hyung also sternly answers whenever a question about Choo Shin-soo comes up, “There is no number one hitter in our team right now.” Choo Shin-soo is currently the ‘top hitter’ in the SSG lineup. It’s a familiar batting order from his major league days, but it’s just as symbolic within his team. This is because the intimidating feeling of the name Choo Shin-soo can start the game while putting pressure on the opponent. In fact, when Choo Shin-soo was injured at the end of the 2022 season,
Even in the 2023 season, Choo Shin-soo should play an important role. While he is the best in the team with his colleague Kim Kang-min, who is the same age as him, he has the heavy burden of becoming an example to his juniors. Choo Shin-soo signed for 1.7 billion won, 안전놀이터 a reduction of 1 billion won from the previous annual salary of 2.7 billion won. He said that salary is more of pride than a simple number for him, but he agreed to the cut in consideration of the situation in various teams and asked to “take better care of other juniors.” Recently, it became a hot topic by presenting a gift certificate as a token of appreciation to the staff who help support such as bus driving, laundry, cleaning, meals, groundskeepers, and training assistants. He has a role that gives a lot of baseball advice, but it is a position that he has to show through his actions.
For him personally, it is an opportunity to shake off the regrets of grades. Choo Shin-soo’s batting performance in the past two seasons did not meet his personal greed. He was the first to express his regret that he did not get more thrust hits than his individual performance in the Korean series. This season, SSG acquired outfielder Guillermo Heredia as a new foreign hitter. Considering the outfield composition that Choi Ji-hoon and Hanyu-seom are enduring, it is highly likely that this year’s batting order will be organized so that Choo Shin-soo can focus more on batting as a designated hitter rather than outfield defense. It is the 2023 season when another goal will be given to ‘Chu Chu Train’.