A Family Competition in the Eagles Nest

The Hanhwa Eagles currently stand in 5th place as of June 7. Their record isn’t satisfactory.

But Hanhwa head coach Yoo Seung-an’s face brightens up whenever the subject of his rookies comes up as the rookies for the Eagles have shown outstanding performances to bring up the phrase: “This season’s rookie of the year will be born in the nest of the eagles.”

The “Fab 3” Eagle rookies are all 19 years old and high school graduates. Pitcher Song Chang-shik, pitcher Kim Chang-hoon, and batter Choi Jin-hang will be competing for the Rookie of the Year award on the same club this year.

Of the “Fab 3,” Se-Kwang High School graduate Song Chang-shik is the closest to clinch the Rookie of the Year award just from his previous numbers. Song leads the team in most wins with 5 wins against 3 losses to lead the team. He also stands in 7th place in the league in wins.

Especially last month, Song pitched a complete game to capture victory with late 140kmph fastballs and sliders against LG on May 29th. It was the first time since Kim Jin-Woo of Kia did it in May, 2002 that a rookie pitcher notched a complete game. Song Chang-shik, who stood 182 cm and weighed 86 kg when he joined the team, has grown 2 cm and gained 3 kg as the season progressed.

Lefty Kim Chang-hoon (Cheonan Bukil High school), who entered Hanhwa with a supreme contract of 420 million won, which is the most in rookie history, has recorded 3 wins and 2 losses this season. Kim, who had been nominated as the best player in the Asian Juniors competition, maintains his fastballs around 130kmph, but manages to handle batters with various breaking balls. Two of his three wins were against Samsung.

Among rookie batters, Choi Jin-hang (Duksoo Information Industry High school), with a stature of 1m, 88 cm and 93kg, leads the way. Choi who stepped up to the 1st division in late April launched 8 home runs during the month of May and, because his senior teammate Kim Tae-kyoon had an injury to the back of his hand, Choi replaced him in the cleanup position in the lineup.

Even after Kim Tae-kyoon’s comeback, Choi is taking part as a member of the “Cleanup Trio.” His home-run streak seems to have come to a stand still in June, but he is still batting .262 with 8 home runs. In particular, Choi Jin-hang’s slugging percentage reads at .573, which is 2nd behind his teammate Davis’s slugging percentage of .598, which shows why he is regarded as a top-prospect slugger.

Hanhwa has produced only two Rookies of the Year players in the past, Lee Jung-hoon in 1987 and Kim Tae-kyoon in 2001, out of the 21 named in Korean baseball history. So it is only natural that the team is excited about having three Rookies of the Year candidates this season.

Chang Jeon jeon@donga.com