Kang Min-ho and Son Ah-seop refute that there's something baseball players are missing

Feb 27, 2025

Son Ah-seop, who trains batting in the spring camp. Photo =NC Dinos

[Tainan (Taiwan) = Sports Chosun reporter Na Yuri]"Baseball players are missing one thing."

Kang Min-ho of the Samsung Lions, who entered the Korean Series for the first time in 21 years since his professional debut last year. Although Samsung lost to the KIA Tigers and unfortunately ended in second place, it was a huge topic that Kang Min-ho was on the best stage for 20 years.

But there is another player who became a hot topic due to Kang Min-ho's departure. It's Son Ah-seop from the NC Dinos. Son Ah-seop has played a total of 2,058 games but has never made it to the Korean Series. This is the longest active record. He made his professional debut with the Lotte Giants, and while he played for Lotte, the team never made it to the Korean Series. After moving to NC in 2022, NC also failed to make the Korean Series stage.

Winning the Korean Series is a goal and aspiration of the players. As Son Ah-seop and Kang Min-ho were very close as they used to work together at Lotte in the past, this rivalry naturally became a hot topic of conversation. After advancing to the Korean Series, Kang Min-ho made everyone laugh at the media day press conference with a joke that "'You can do it, too, Son Ah-seop (Jeon Jun-woo Jung-hoon)," and Son Ah-seop also made everyone laugh. "I was jealous, but it's the same as me that I don't have a winning ring." he once refuted.

After Kang Min-ho finished second, this story came out again when he was interviewed by the retired player's personal video channel or media during the offseason.

손아섭. Sports Chosun DB

Son Ah-seop, who met at Taiwan's Tainan 2nd camp, said "I keep saying that I went to the Korean Series, but it's the same that I don't have a winning ring after all. He keeps saying that he smelled the Korean Series there, but that smell is not important."Of course, it will be a memory. Min-ho made reporters laugh by saying, "I have a good memory for Min-ho."

Son Ah-seop "If Minho gets a ring, I'll admit it then. You have to admit it and of course celebrate it. Long and short things have to be dealt with. It's just a good memory. Congratulations", he countered head-on.

Of course, we don't know what variables will happen this year. Samsung is being evaluated as a power that can challenge the presidential election again this year, and NC, which does not have special power reinforcement, is being evaluated in the middle and lower ranks.

Kim Joo-won.Sports Chosun DB

Son Ah-seop said of him, "I think I was evaluated as a top five only in the first year since I came to NC, and I haven't received much attention since then. When experts make predictions, they basically have to look at the members of the team and predict them. I would have been like that too", but "It may be considered weak when we look at the membership alone, but sports are fun because they can't predict and don't have a script. We were evaluated as the last-place candidate in 2023 and ended up finishing in the playoffs. What baseball officials are missing is that our young players have grown one step at a time compared to last year. These players, such as (Kim) Hyung-jun, (Kim) Joo-won, (Kim) Hwijip, and (Seo) Ho-cheol, have already grown one step further from last year in the camp. On top of that, if our veterans do it normally, they can exceed the expectations of all baseball players like 2023."

Kim Joo-won, the main shortstop, is the key player of this season. Son Ah-seop said "Juwon had a little tough season last year compared to the expectations around him. But I think Joo Won will definitely break the egg this year. It's true that he's a good player, but honestly, if he was overwhelmed, he would have received Golden Glove. But it wasn't to that extent. "I think I'll have enough potential to compete in the Golden Glove this year. I feel a lot more stable just by watching him train."

The story also reached Kim Joo-won. After the interview, Son told Kim Joo-won in the locker, `My brother picked you as the best player of the year. If you don't do it right, my eyes are wrong, so I have to do well. I'm in trouble."

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.