"I hope you can see what I expected." It's time to burst
Doosan Bears manager Lee Seung-yeop expressed high expectations for Kim Dae-han, the "first express prospect" at the 42nd anniversary ceremony held at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 15th. It seems that he felt a lot of regret from Kim Dae-han last year. Kim Dae-han took the professional stage after receiving Doosan's first nomination in the 2019 Rookie Draft. During his time at Hwimoon High School, he showed off his unique talents on both sides, including pitchers and hitters, and Doosan expressed great expectations to the extent that he gave a down payment of 350 million won. And Kim Dae-han decided to focus only on 'hitters' on the professional stage. However, compared to his high expectations, Kim Dae-han has not shown anything yet. Kim Dae-han was given the opportunity to play in the first division from his first year of joining the team, despite having solid outfielders for Kim Jae-hwan, Jung Soo-bin and Park Gun-woo (currently NC Dinos). However, he finished his first season with three walks and four scores without making a single hit while playing in 19 games. Doosan recommended Kim Dae-han, who could not be of immediate help in the first division, join the military because he had such a solid outfield, and immediately fulfilled his mandatory military service as an active player. It was the 2022 season that Kim Dae-han returned to the ground. Kim Dae-han, who entered the first division for the first time since his discharge in July, reported his first hit since his debut in his first game, and played in 51 games that year, recording 23 hits, four homers, 11 RBIs, 13 runs scored, and a batting average of 0.240 OPS 0.763. Doosan once again had high expectations for Kim Dae-han at a time when there were no outfield owners except for Kim Jae-hwan and Jung Soo-bin. Kim Dae-han and "national hitter" Lee Seung-yeop worked hard to prepare for the 2023 season from the closing camp in the winter of 2022, and started warming up for the regular season by recording 10 hits, one home run, four RBIs and a batting average of 0.244 OPS 0.807 in 13 exhibition games. However, Doosan's calculations and Kim Dae-han's plans were all twisted as he was diagnosed with a fractured right mid-body bone during a baserunning play during the exhibition game. After more than a month of rehabilitation, Kim returned to the first division stage only in late May. He was immediately put on the starting lineup and received an opportunity to post his name, but his performance during the month of June was only 0.229 with one home run and seven RBIs. In particular, in the game against the Lotte Giants held at Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan on July 1 last year, he did not run toward the first base and returned to the dugout to the third base in a strikeout situation. It was a natural out situation to the head coach, but he couldn't be seen as a player who didn't do his best. Consequently, Kim Daehan immediately moved to the second tier after the match on July 1. "Kim Daehan seemed less confident when he was playing in the game," manager Lee Seung-yeop said. "I think he still lacks the capacity to play as a mainstay in the first tier. I felt that I needed to go down to the Futures League and refine it a little bit, so I made a change." At that time, Lee seemed to have strong horns. Kim Dae-han, who eventually went down to the second division due to his poor play, returned to the first division only in mid-August after a hiatus of more than a month, failed to show any significant performance until the end of the regular season schedule, and finished the season with a batting average of 0.198 with 16 hits, one home run, and seven RBIs in 33 games. However, Kim Dae-han is very busy this offseason as he cannot let go of baseball. Kim Dae-han participated in the closing camp after the regular season schedule and sweated a lot, and also participated in Japan's Miyazaki Phoenix League. The young prospect made a mistake while watching these scenes, but the head coach still had high expectations for Kim Dae-han. "I had high expectations for Kim Dae-han last year," Lee Seung-yeop told reporters on the 15th. "However, as I suffered a fracture in the last exhibition game before the regular season begins, our plan has become a little distorted." However, soon after he said, "I hope that Kim Dae-han, who I have been looking forward to since the autumn closing camp since I took the helm last year, will come out this season," and reiterated, "I will look forward to it." Kim Dae-han, who was called the best hitter in high school, has already been wearing a professional uniform for six years. Now is the time to break the egg and unleash his talent.