Yang Eui-ji's honest confession, GG, mistakenly received the awardMinho, who is two years older, is working hard, too.

Feb 12, 2025

사진=김용 기자

[Blacktown (Australia) = Reporter Kim Yong from Sports Chosun] "Minho works so hard...I was mistaken that I should have received it."

Yang Eui-ji is busy at the Blacktown Spring Camp in Australia. It's hard to train, but he has to be selected as a new captain and take care of the team. Furthermore, Doosan came to this camp after declaring 'generation change'. There are many young players. Yang Eui-ji said "Older players are more cautious. There are also junior players who are new to the spring camp. Veteran players should set an example." Then "I personally think I have more time with the players than I have to build my body. I don't think my juniors are coming to me well, maybe because I'm having a hard time, but I'm trying to make the atmosphere good when I'm having a hard time with exercise," he said with a smile.

Doosan suffered in the wild card game for two consecutive seasons since Lee Seung-yeop took office. Now it is the last year of Lee's contract. It's an important season. The same applies to Yang Eui-ji personally. It became a captain, and the lost glory days must be recovered.

Sportschosun DB

Golden Gloves. The catcher division has been divided between Yang Eui-ji and Kang Min-ho (Samsung) over the past decade. The year 2011 was the starting point. Kang Min-ho was a member of the Lotte Giants and became the main character of the golden gloves for three consecutive seasons from 2011 to 2013. It was Yang Eui-ji who destroyed this stronghold. He took over Doosan's home turf with strong offense and stable pitcher lead, and became the owner of the Golden Glove for three consecutive years from 2014 to 2016 after Kang Min-ho.

No other catcher has been on the list of winners for 14 years since 2011. During this period, Yang Eui-ji received eight catchers, and Kang Min-ho won six awards. Last year's winner was Kang Min-ho.

However, last year, Yang Eui-ji was embarrassed to attend the awards ceremony. This is because he was not listed as a candidate. Yang Eui-ji failed to meet the catcher's innings (720 innings) last year due to injury. Even in that important fall baseball, he couldn't play because of a clavicle injury. It was a pain in many ways.

Sportschosun DB

Yang Eui-ji, who watched rival Kang Min-ho win the award, was determined to play as much as possible as a catcher in the 2025 season. Yang Eui-ji said, `It was awkward to watch the Golden Glove Awards last year. I think I was mistaken that it's an award that I should have received," he said candidly. Then "You have to work hard. It's not easy at all. In my twilight years of my career, I thought a lot that I had to work really hard if I wanted to quit with a smile."

Yang Eui-ji said "Minho is two years older than me. He works hard like that and shows good performances to his juniors, but I thought I should be responsible and have a strong mindset"I burned my will.

Sportschosun DB

Yang Eui-ji responded to the injury that plagued him so much last year that he received treatment for his bad collarbone and did a lot of reinforcement exercises. I've recovered, but if I overdo it, I get a little pain. I'm training carefully and concentrating because I don't want to get sick again in the build-up stage", he explained.

Finally, Yang Eui-ji talked about the catcher's defensive inning "I talked to battery coach Cho In-sung, and he told me to think that I was going to play all the games." He also said he would change it whenever he showed a hard time. So I'm also determined to be a catcher. Even if it's not necessarily a catcher's position, I think it's important to play in the entire game."

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.