The home run king who wanted to play since the exhibition game, why did he suddenly change his mind?
Feb 27, 2025
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The NC Dinos faced the Taiwanese professional team Zhongxin Brothers in a practice game at Tainan Asia-Pacific Baseball Stadium in Taiwan on the 27th.
Most of NC's main players, including Son Ah-seop, Park Gun-woo and Park Min-woo, started on that day. The starting lineup is Son Ah-seop (designated hitter), Kim Joo-won (striker), Park Min-woo (second baseman), Matt Davidson (first baseman), Park Gun-woo (middle fielder), Kim Hwi-jip (third baseman), Park Si-won (right fielder), Kim Hyung-joon (pastor), and Kim Sung-wook (left fielder), and the starting pitcher is new foreign pitcher Riley Thompson.
The name that stands out is Davison. Davison, who entered the KBO League last year, hit 46 home runs while playing as the main first baseman in the NC uniform. He beat his outstanding rivals to win the title of `Home Run King.'
NC treated Davison as good as his performance. In signing a 1+1 multi-year contract, it guaranteed up to two years with up to $1.5 million (including $300,000 in incentives) in 2025 and up to $1.7 million (including 400,000 in incentives) in 2026.
Davison, who joined from the first spring camp in Tucson, Arizona, USA, was originally scheduled to play in the exhibition game. At the beginning of the first camp, he politely expressed his intention in a meeting with coach Lee Ho-joon.
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But Davison changed his mind. On this day, NC will play the fourth game out of a total of eight games to be played in Taiwan. Davison volunteered to play first" expressed his intention, and coach Lee Ho-joon used him as the starting first baseman.
For Davison, it's his first real game since last year's regular season. He played defense to first base without any problems.
Manager Lee Ho-joon was initially considering the use of Davison's designated hitter this season. This is to share Kim Hwi-jip and Seo Ho-cheol. Kim Hui-jip, who plays shortstop, second baseman, and third baseman, was given the third base fixation, and instead Seo Ho-cheol, another third baseman, had him prepare for third and first base.
Coach Lee Ho-joon said, `Seo Ho-chul is a player who plays an important role in our team. Hochul also tries to use as much as possible. I think multi-position is inevitable for that" he once said.
On the day when Seo Ho-chul and Kim Hwi-jip appear at the same time, there is a possibility that Davison will take over as the designated hitter.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
