Kang Seung-ho (30, Doosan Bears) participated in the closing camp even after the "career high" season.

This is because he failed to continue his momentum at the beginning of the season and his desire to fix his shortcomings increased.안전놀이터

"Kang Seung-ho achieved his best performance this year. However, he did not finish well," said Lee Seung-yeop, who met Doosan at Bears Park in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province on Sunday when the team continued its closing camp. "At the beginning of the season, he was as good as Kim Do-young (KIA Tigers), who was the best hitter in the 2024 KBO League. However, he showed ups and downs from the middle of the season."

"Kang showed his commitment to 'improve the problem' and joined the closing camp," Lee said. "Kang is also engaged in group training and individual training. I look forward to Kang's undulating performance next year."

In 2024, Kang had a batting average of 0.280 (146 hits in 521 at-bats), 18 homers, 81 RBIs, and an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of 0.804.

The batting average, hits, home runs, RBIs, and OPS were all the best.

However, both Kang Seung-ho and Lee ended the season feeling sorry.

In March-April this year, Kang Seung-ho hit .333 with seven home runs, 23 RBIs and an OPS of 0.956 in 33 games.

However, from May to June, the OPS fell to 0.754, and even after July, the OPS was only 0.754.

Kang Seung-ho cited "physical fitness management" as the reason for his sluggish performance since the middle of the season.

"When my performance was good at the beginning of the season, I hit the ball in front of me because my bat speed was good. That's why I hit a lot of long balls," he said. "Since then, my physical strength has declined, and the point where I hit the ball has been pushed back. There was also an adverse effect of increasing strikeouts while trying to hit faster. Even after the temperature fell, the good times did not come back."

Kang Seung-ho, who said, "I realized that physical fitness management is essential to maintain good performance in a season," said, "The number of strikeouts increased when the physical strength fell. We are preparing for a long season early, listening to batting coach Lee Young-soo's advice to solve various problems."

Even during the season, Kang Seung-ho asked for advice here and there when he fell into a slump.

He also asked KBSN commentator Park Yong-taek, who is "second in hits in the KBO League," "What should I do to quickly regain my good times when the batting feeling is low?"

"There are a number of factors that contribute to the decline in the sense of hit. Because my physical condition has changed, I cannot immediately find my bad or bad," Park said. "We need to judge my current physical condition coolly and find another way."

Kang Seung-ho recalled, "After listening to Park Yong-taek's advice, I realized that I had to study more to reduce the slump period."

The batting performance was better at the beginning of the season, but rather the defense was more stable in the second half.

Kang Seung-ho said, "I was worried that I might fill up 30 errors while committing 11 errors in the first half of the year, but fortunately, I reduced the number of errors to two in the second half," adding, "It was really hard because of my mistakes, but I found psychological stability because defense coach Cho Sung-hwan helped me."

In the 2024 season, Kang Seung-ho suffered all the joy, anger, and sorrow in offense and defense.

Kang Seung-ho said, "It was hard, but it was a season where I learned a lot."

The last painful memory of this season was a new motivation.

Doosan, which finished fourth in the regular season, lost both the first and second wild-card games, setting a disgraceful record of being the "fourth-ranked team in the KBO League that failed to break through the wild-card game."

Kang said, "I remember the pain of that day. When the second wild card game ended, I made a commitment to prepare hard so that I would never experience that again."

Kang Seung-ho, who joined the closing camp for various reasons, raises the bat again, recalling his disappointing memories in 2024 whenever he feels tired.