After much consideration after the 2024 season, Kia has decided not to renew its contract with Socrates Brito (33), who played for the team for the past three years. Instead, it signed Patrick Wisdom (34), a slugger with powerful hitting 88 home runs in the Major League. In order for the team to advance to its second consecutive win in the Korean Series, it needs to fill its weak spot at first base.안전놀이터

Foreign hitters are guaranteed the starting position for now, unless a long slump continues. Few teams have players who have invested more than 1 billion won a year on the bench. In the case of KIA, outfielders and infielders have joined the team, so Korean players in that position will inevitably have mixed feelings. With players on the first base increasingly worried, it could be an opportunity for outfielders.

Kia considers sending Lee Woo-sung, who came to the first base last year after playing as an outfielder throughout his life, to the outfield again due to circumstances of the team. This is a natural trend. On top of that, Na Sung-bum, who suffered from hamstring injury for the past two years, is expected to prepare in 2025 as normal condition. The team believes that it is not time to become a designated hitter yet. Choi Won-joon (28) will take the remaining position. He is closest to the main center fielder. Perhaps, he should take the main center fielder at the time Socrates is absent.

There were various controversies over Socrates' offensive productivity, but the reason was because foreign players of other teams were compared to him. Socrates played 140 games with a batting average of 0.310, 26 homers, 97 RBIs, and 0.875 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). The adjusted score productivity (wRC+) tallied by Statistics Korea was 121.2, ranking second only to Kim Do-young (172.5) among KIA players who finished at-bat in regulation. He was by far the first among outfielders.

If Socrates' gap is revealed too large, the effect of joining Wisdom will inevitably be offset. This is why the performance of Na Sung-beom and Choi Won-jun, as well as Lee Woo-sung, who has to fill Socrates' gap most directly, is essential. On the one hand, the growth and hard work of outfield backup players are also needed. Compared to the infield, which is a happy concern about who to use, the outfield is not that good yet. In the end, Choi Won-joon should take the center of the outfield both in the air and in the field.

It may be a burden, but it can be said that Choi Won-joon, who will qualify as a free agent (FA) at the end of the 2025 season, has an opportunity. He could have been excluded from the starting lineup depending on the situation when Socrates was present, but now he is a player who must enter the starting lineup unconditionally. If he can show his ability here, it is a perfect showcase ahead of the FA.

Choi Won-joon, who graduated from Seoul High School and was named the second first round (3rd overall) in the rookie draft in 2016, is a promising player that KIA has worked on for a long time. In the early days of his career, he worked both inside and outside, and after being discharged from the military, he settled in the outfield and played as a starting player. He has a batting average of 0.286 with a on-base percentage of 0.353 and 110 steals in 746 games in the KBO League. Last year, he played in 136 games and contributed to his team's overall victory with a batting average of 0.292, on-base percentage of 0.371, nine homers, 56 RBIs, 21 steals, and OPS of 0.791. As he is still in his late 20s, the value of the FA market is expected to be quite high.

This year, his offensive performance should be better than this, and above all, he should be responsible for the wide outfield with a stable defense. If Choi Won-joon collapses, KIA's outfield is likely to be shaken rapidly, so it deserves to be called a key player that the team sees.

If Choi Won-joon recovers, Kia Tigers coach Lee Bum-ho's idea of batting order can also be completed. Soon after taking office in 2024, Lee dreamed of the idea of batting order 1 to 3 leading to Park Chan-ho, Choi Won-joon and Kim Do-young. All three players have good mobility, which can create synergy effect. Putting Choi Won-joon as No. 2 came up with the idea in that he is the type of player with a good on-base percentage. However, due to poor performance at exhibition games, this idea of batting order was not achieved. Last year, Choi also played many at-bats in No. 2 (155 at-bats), but the batting order that he played the most was No. 9 (167 at-bats).

If Park Chan-ho is the first and Kim Do-young is in the third, and Choi Won-joon is in the second and moves according to Lee's plan, Kia will likely find it easier to combine batting order afterward. The batting order of Choi Hyung-woo, Na Sung-bum and Wisdom has yet to be determined, but we will be able to watch their training process and determine the optimal combination. If Choi shows that he can display good productivity in the top lineup, he can also increase his ransom. It seems clear that Choi Won-joon, who has the name of Choi Won-joon, will play a fairly important role in Kia's history in 2025.