Will Shim Woo-joon (30), who is making a fresh start for Hanwha Eagles, be able to bring the title of "Daedo" once again.메이저사이트

Hanwha signed Shim Woo-joon for a four-year total of 5 billion won after the end of last year's season.

Shim Woo-joon is an outfielder with stable defense capability. He even led KT Wiz to its first unified championship in 2021.

Shim Woo-joon's physical strength, who plays more than 130 games from 2018 to 2022, is also an advantage.

Hanwha had some regrets in its position as shortstop in recent years. Ha, who played as the main shortstop for a long time, was also disciplined for personal reasons. In 2023 and 2024, Lee showed clear growth in offense and defense, but he decided that he needed an infielder to reliably center the center line. Moreover, strengthening defense was an even more necessary factor for Hanwha, which has many young pitchers.

The defense was not the only part that Hanwha found attractive to Shim Woo-joon. The main focus, which rose to the "King of steals," was also cited as a plus factor.

Shim Woo-joon stole 35 bases in 2020 and became the king of stolen bases for the first time since his debut. Since then, Shim has continued to steal double-digit bases for two consecutive years. Last year, when Shim returned from military service, he played in 53 games and stole bases seven times.

Although he has consistently shown his main strength, Shim Woo-joon has been somewhat far from the steal competition since he became the steal king in 2020. The on-base percentage was high, but he failed to boldly steal the base.

Manager Kim Kyung-moon, who took the helm of Hanwha in the middle of last year, is one of the coaches who highly value 'running baseball'.

Running baseball continued when he led the Doosan Bears from 2004 to 2011 and when he was the head coach of the NC Dinos from 2012 to 2018. At that time, Doosan topped the team's steal list from 2006 to 2008, and in 2013 and 2014, there were 50 stealers in turn. In 2015, three players including Park Min-woo (46 stealers), Kim Jong-ho (41 stealers) and Eric Thames (40 stealers) recorded 40 stealers.

At the inauguration ceremony in June last year, Kim said, "I heard that our team was the last to steal the bases. There are many ways to score points. If any team has a fast player, I think the team is strong. I think Hanwha should find a fast player and a player who can steal the bases." In 2023, Hanwha ranked ninth in terms of number of stolen bases (30), and ranked the lowest with a success rate of 62.5 percent.

Hanwha also had 69 stolen bases on its team last year, ranking ninth overall after KT Wiz (61). The success rate of stolen bases stood at the bottom at 62.7 percent. Starting in the 2025 season, the baseball style that manager Kim Kyung-moon pursues is expected to emerge. Chances are high that the number of stolen bases will increase significantly compared to the previous one.

Shim Woo-joon, who is wearing Hanwha's uniform, will become the vanguard of "football" baseball. Shim Woo-joon also expressed his intention to match the color. "Honestly, I think manager Kim Kyung-moon has changed a lot since he came here. He actively started base running. I also saw him play until the end of the game. I am confident in that. I think I will be able to adapt quickly," Shim said.