Baseball MLB: Sports: News: Hankyoreh

NC (NC) Dinos’ director Dong-wook Lee visits the Hankyoreh Newspaper in Mapo-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of December 3, 2020 and interviews. By Lee Jung-ah, staff reporter [email protected]

Dong-wook Dong-wook NC (NC) Dinos is busy making a list at his home in Songdo these days. This is a list of players who will participate in the spring camp that will be held from February 1. I’m trying to pack around 45 people, but it’s not a bit of annoyance. NC has held spring camps in the U.S. since its foundation in 2011, but this year, as with other clubs, due to the aftermath of Corona 19, it has to continue camping only in Korea. At the end of winter, you have to train in a completely different environment than usual. NC trains at Masan Baseball Stadium. Director Lee Dong-wook said in an interview with the Hankyoreh on the afternoon of the 4th, “All the spring camp routines have been broken. In the U.S., 4-5 baseball fields were used to train efficiently, but in Korea only about 2 are used. Because of the cold, I think I will have to train at the peak around lunchtime. “I will have to consult with the training part so that the training time is not extended and the cold feels to a minimum. I am most worried about the injury.” Unlike previous years, because of the cold, the start of practice games is also thought to be from late February to early March. Last year, he played his first practice game on February 15th in the United States. It is not known whether the players will be able to improve their physical condition before the scheduled practice this year. Although Na Sung-beom’s move to advance into the major leagues is unclear, Lee is working on a puzzle for the 2021 season in the current situation. In the spring camp, you must first select 5 starters. Drew Luchinski, Koo Chang-mo, and Song Myeong-ki are currently looking for foreign pitchers to fill the first to fourth starters, but the remaining one is a problem. Currently, the 5th candidates are Jaehak Lee, Youngkyu Kim, Minhyuk Shin, etc. In addition, the mid-term system to support the pilgrimage team needs to be upgraded one step further. Manager Lee emphasized, “Young players such as Park Jin-woo, Ahn In-san, So Lee-hyun, Kim Tae-kyung, and Kim Tae-hyun must take a leap forward.” The 1.5 military-class beasts such as Kim Chan-hyung, Park Jun-young, and Choi Jeong-won are also about to keep an eye on them. Coach Dong-wook Lee said, “What I learned after coaching was that it was more effective to make the players do better, not what they did not do well. “You have to make use of the strengths of the players,” he said. “Before that, the players must first grasp themselves. Knowing what my role is in the team is the most important thing, and there must be something I can do well.” It was Lee, who tried to maximize the strengths of each player while looking at the players as they are with the’open leadership’ that he communicates normally. This year, he said he will continue to communicate with the players, “by putting up with the relationship formation.” He wanted to forget yesterday’s game as soon as possible during the season. I thought that the game of that day ended with one day. I brushed it off and prepared for tomorrow’s baseball. Before the game, I walked through the stadium’s audience slowly and organized my thoughts on’Today’s Baseball’. The feelings for the 2021 season are similar. He erased 2020 from his mind. 2021 is just another year. Director Lee said, “2020 is already over. It ended with a championship.” So the goal for the 2021 season is not’Mercury’ but’Challenge’. “A challenge for what we have achieved, a challenge for what we have been doing”. Of course,’Pride’, which is’winning after 9 years’, is always in the heart. Regarding the 2021 season, coach Lee Dong-wook said, “It will be a more interesting league since there are two foreign coaches this year (Director Hanwha Carlos Subero, KIA coach Matt Williams).” A team with a strong team depth will perform well with the player’s performance. The key is to keep the team so that fewer injuries come out,” he predicted. As the cold spring camp held in Korea approaches, this winter, where worries have increased, another meaning of’challenge’ is making director Lee Dong-wook even more busy. By Kim Yang-hee, staff reporter [email protected]