The KIA Tigers held a unique event a few months ago at Challengers Field in Hampyeong, where the Futures (second team) team is staying.안전놀이터
Parents and families of players belonging to the Future Team were invited to tour the training facility and observe the actual training scene. Usually, when a player plays his first game after being called up to the first team, it is common to visit the stadium and watch him proudly wearing a uniform. The futures training ground, which has no choice but to be more intense because there are incomplete students, is a difficult site to look into. It is true that even from the perspective of the club, unlike the flashy first team, it cannot be said that the image that can be shown in the Futures stands out.
A KIA official said, “The professional world is a stage of competition, but from the perspective of parents and families, they trusted our club and entrusted their children and siblings. It is natural to want to learn and grow baseball in a good environment and under a good teacher.” I wanted to show that I will only look at my skills and raise players fairly in a good environment that lives up to my beliefs.”
KIA, which prepared to introduce a new training system from 2021, confirmed the basic framework last year and took its first step this year. There are leaders who boast brilliant careers, such as coach Son Seung-rak, who trained for the LA Dodgers in the US Major League after retiring from active duty, but there are also coaches who did not see much light during their active career or who spent most of their time in other teams other than KIA. KIA’s goal was to organize the Future Team with coaches who are in line with the direction of development set by the club and who understand the latest trends, rather than a composition that suits the taste of the first-team coaches or reputation during their active years.
The KIA Futures team is still in the process of establishing itself. The two-hit index, which had crawled to the bottom last year, began to rise little by little, and players such as Lee Woo-sung and Choi Ji-min who took their place in the first team are coming out little by little. The meticulous appearance of taking care of even the non-game aspects in the steps of making this process is a rare scene in the Tigers. It is an anecdote that is enough to make us look forward to the appearance of KIA that will change in the future.