Description
Junipo, who was sidelined with a sore thigh at the end of the regular season, will play.
Choi Jung's 'game-winning home run'
"Oh, I felt good hitting it," joked Choi (36-SSG Landers), who finished the regular season second in home runs (29).
Choi missed the final four games of the regular season due to a sore 13th thigh that kept him out of the first team roster.
Young slugger Noh Si-hwan (22-Hanwha Eagles) also failed to add a home run during this period, but the title of home run king went to Noh, who hit 31 home runs.
On the 17th, the last day of the 2023 KBO regular season, Choi had a different reaction to losing the home run title, saying, "I think it's because I didn't play at the end of the season, so my batting average might drop." Choi's reaction to losing the home run title was different. The second-place finisher was Roh Si-hwan with a .541 on-base percentage.
For now, Choi is letting go of any regrets about the regular season and ramping up her training intensity to be ready for the semi-playoffs against the NC Dinos, which begin on April 22.
"I'm still not at full strength due to a micro-injury to my thigh muscle. I resumed training on the 16th and increased my training volume on the 17th." "This is the first time I've ever injured my thigh, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to play normally again," he said.
However, he added, "I'm trying to get back to hitting and fielding normally in the semi-postseason."
Choi is a right-handed slugger who ranks second in the KBO in career home runs (458). Next year, he has a good chance of surpassing Doosan Bears' Lee Seung-yeop's record of 467 home runs.
Before that happens, Choi is preparing to make a splash in the fall.
In 73 career postseason games, Choi is 241-for-67 (.278) with 12 home runs and 38 RBIs.
In last year's Korean Series, Choi went 10-for-21 (.476 batting average) with two home runs and nine RBIs to help SSG win the combined regular season and Korean Series title.
In 2008, he was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Korean Series.
"I play in the postseason often because I play for a good team," Choi said. "No matter how many times I go, I still get excited and enjoy the fall season. This year, we're starting the postseason a little earlier than last year (when we went straight to the Korean Series), but it's fun to go from the bottom to the top," he said, expressing his desire to reach another Korean Series.
SSG will first need to defeat NC in the best-of-five Semi-Finals to advance to the POs, where they will face kt wiz for a ticket to the Korean Series.
Choi is SSG's most obvious weapon in the Semi-Pros.
In the regular season against NC, Choi was very strong with 15 hits in 44 at-bats (.341 batting average), six home runs and nine RBIs. He even went 2-for-4 against NC ace Eric Peddy.
If Choi's bat catches fire once again in the postseason, SSG can dream of winning the Korean Series for the second straight year. 슬롯사이트