Choi Won-je Joins LG Twins

After leading Jangchoong High School to win the Golden Lion High School Baseball Championship two years in a row, Choi Won-je, the 18-year-old star player, has officially become a member of the professional baseball team of the LG Twins.

In an interview at a fitness club in Seoul yesterday, Choi said, “Minnesota recently offered a $450,000 contract, but I decided to become a member of LG, which offered better terms.”

The LG team reportedly offered almost the same as the 430 million won that the former Seoul High School pitcher Lee Hyeong-jong received. The team has priority of nominating players to scout, as it was at the bottom in the league last year.

Choi was confident that he would “show a better performance than any other rookie in the professional baseball league.”

“I still think about Major League Baseball. But I prefer playing in Korea under similar terms. Also, I’ve yet to serve in the military. As the top player in high school baseball, my goal is to win the rookie king title in the professional league next year.”

After spending the morning training in school, he engages in weight training for five to six hours in the afternoon.

Choi, who throws right and bats left, is an extraordinary player with a 145km fastball and the ability to hit a long ball. He was selected as the best player in this year’s Golden Lion Championship, compiling three wins as a pitcher and .357 as a hitter.

He said that he wanted to play both as a pitcher and a hitter as a professional player.

“A pitcher is attractive because he is the conductor of the mound, while a hitter is attractive because he can hit a long ball. I want to become a successful pitcher and then play as a hitter as well. Am I too ambitious (laughs)?”

He likes Lim Tae-hoon, a pitcher at Doosan, who graduated from his same middle school a year earlier and is very likely to win the rookie king title this year. He remarked, “I want to have an opportunity to contend for victory with Tae-hoon.”

beetlez@donga.com