[IS 포커스] Corona 19 writes in injury history and even fails… Na Seong-beom fought with 3 used

Na Seong-beom (32, NC), who knocked on the door of the MLB, ended in failure. Na Seong-beom was unable to sign a contract with any MLB club until 7 am (Korean time) on the 10th, the deadline for posting (private competitive bidding).

Na Seong-beom earlier appointed MLB’Super Agent’ Scott Boras as the negotiating agent. During the posting period, I stayed in the US and prepared a contract. However, no active club appeared in his recruitment. Compared to Kiwoom infielder Kim Ha-seong, who signed a 4+1 year contract with San Diego for up to $39 million (42.6 billion won) with a recent posting, the market atmosphere was different.

Bad news overlapped. Song Jae-woo, commentator on MBC SPORTS+, said, “Na Seong-beom has a history of knee injuries and his age. The fact that a player who is over thirty years old has to return after taking a break from one season due to injuries has no choice but to worry.” Na Seong-beom, who severely injured his right knee during the game in May 2019, went straight to the operating table and went out of the season. He returned successfully in 2020 (a batting average of 0.324, 34 home runs, and 112 RBIs), but it did not erase the question mark about’health’. How much of the MLB clubs evaluate the value of’Outfielder Na Seong-beom’ was the biggest concern of this posting. As a result, it did not give a high score.

The frozen MLB free agent (FA) market atmosphere also played a part. MLB clubs, whose income has decreased due to the 2020 novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), are seldom opening their wallets. Large outfielders such as George Springer (former Houston), Marcel Osuna (former Atlanta), Jackie Bradley Jr. (former Boston), and Eddie Rosario (former Minnesota) still remain in the free agent market. Na Seongbeom is bound to be pushed out of the recruitment priority.

The situation was similar for Haruki Nishikawa, who was confirmed to remain in Japanese pro baseball (NPB) on the 3rd. Nishikawa is an outfielder who won the NPB Pacific League Golden Gloves for the last four consecutive years. Like Seongbeom Na, I challenged the MLB by posting, but I couldn’t sign. At the time, Japanese sports media Sponichi Annex said,’Because of last season with no spectators, each MLB club is in a financially difficult state. This caused a headwind to Nishikawa, who used the posting system.’

Yoshitomo Yoshitomo (Tampa Bay)’s failure was also bad news for Na Sung-beom. Tsutsugo, who signed with the Tampa Bay club with a posting in December 2019, was expected to be a’geopo outfielder’ at the time of the contract. Tampa Bay invested a total of $12 million (1.3 billion won) over two years to him, who hit 44 homers at the NPB in 2016. Tsutsugo was sluggish with a batting average of 0.197 (31 hits in 157 at-bats), 8 homers and 24 RBIs in 51 games last year, the first season of his contract.

Na Seong-beom even had a common point of being a geopo with the’left-handed outfielder’ like Tsutsugo. Outfielder Akiyama Shogo (Cincinnati), who was called the NPB’Hit Maker’, also struggled to adapt to the MLB, and the Asian outfielder’s value fell.

Through the club, Na Seong-beom said, “I was happy to be able to challenge the MLB I have dreamed of for a long time. It would be a lie if it wasn’t sad, but I have no regrets. Above all, I’m grateful for the club that helped me challenge. Thank you also sincerely. I think there will be another chance. Now, I will do my best to win the NC in the 2021 season.”

Reporter Bae Joong-hyun [email protected]