"Genius batter" Kang Baek-ho (KT Wiz) is expected to appear in the FA market. At least billions of won will change depending on the defensive position this year.
Kang, who was wearing KT's uniform as the No. 1 player in the second round of the 2018 Rookie Draft, made a splendid debut in the KBO League by hitting home runs from his first at-bat. Kang started as the seventh batter and left fielder at the opening game against the KIA Tigers at Gwangju KIA Champions Field on March 24, 2018. He played as the leadoff hitter for his team in the third inning, when his team was losing 0-2, and hit a six-pitch fastball by Hector Noesi, the starting pitcher, for a solo home run over the left-hand wall. Kang is the first high school graduate to hit a home run at his first at-bat since his debut. He also became the youngest player to hit his first home run of this season at the age of 18 years, seven months and 23 days.스포츠토토
Since then, his performance has been even more impressive. He set a new record of 29 homers in 2018, which is the highest among high school graduates and left-handed hitters. In 2019, he had 13 homers, but raised his batting average to 0.336, demonstrating his accuracy. In 2020, he had 23 homers and a batting average of 0.330, catching two birds with contact and long hit.
He made 2021 his best year ever. Back then, Kang led KT's batting average of .400 through July. Thanks to Kang's performance, KT had a fierce battle with the Samsung Lions until the end of the season. In the first-place match held for the first time in the KBO league, Kang scored a timely hit to lead his team to No. 1 in the regular season for the first time. Kang did not stop at the Korean Series, either. In the first and second games, he had eight consecutive on-base hits, tying Kim Jae-ho (Doosan Bears) for the most consecutive on-base hits in the Korean Series in 2020. Consequently, in four games of the Korean Series, his team won the title with six hits from 12 times at bat, three runs scored, one RBI and a slugging percentage of .500.
Since then, negative developments have continued. Due to injuries and sluggishness, he played 62 games with a batting average of 0.245 in career low, and played 71 games in 2023. Outside the league, he was criticized for making mistakes at international competitions and had a hard time mentally.
Last year, Kang finally turned the tables. Kang recorded 159 hits, 26 homers, 92 runs and 96 RBIs, and a batting average of 0.289 for on-base plus 0.480. He exceeded 20 homers for the first time since 2020 and played in all games for the first time in his career. If he has to find regret, his performance in the second half (batting average of 0.248 on-base plus 0.352 OPS 0.683) decreased from the first half (batting average of 0.31 on-base plus 0.378 OPS of 0.559 OPS of 0.937).
If he completes the 2025 season well, Kang will become the first free agent in his career. Park Chan-ho, Choi Won-joon, Jo Sang-woo, Yang Hyeon-jong (KIA Tigers), Park Byung-ho, Kang Min-ho (Samsung Lions), Kim Kwang-hyun (SSG Landers), and Kim Jae-hwan (Doosan Bears) are also expected to become eligible as free agents.
Kang Baekho is by far the biggest fish in the world. Born in 1999, he turned 27 in 2026. As he is entering his prime as a batter, chances are high that he will play long after the FA. He also has clear contact and vision, so he is the type of player who can play long as there is no injury. He even served in the military with the gold medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
The stumbling block is his defensive position. When he was at Seoul High School, Kang was both a catcher and a pitcher. After joining KT, he played in the left field during the rookie season, and then moved to the right field the following year. From 2020, he has settled down to first base. He spent most of his time in the designated hitter position starting in 2022. He sometimes played first base or right field, but the percentage of designated hitters was overwhelmingly high.
In 2024, he will become a catcher. In the beginning of the season, coach Lee Kang-chul once said that Kang's defensive position would be replaced by a designated hitter and right fielder, adding that his main position should be regarded as a designated hitter. Then, he surprisingly let Kang play as the starting catcher against the Hanwha Eagles on March 31. Since then, Kang has been playing as both a catcher and a designated hitter.
"Kang Baek-ho goes out as a catcher whenever Jang is having a hard time," coach Lee Kang-chul said. "I'm stressed out by mixing balls, and I'm thinking about what to throw here, so catchers are good at batting. If I continue (catchers), I will be able to hit (the bat) better."
The introduction of the automatic ball-strike system (ABS) also helped Kang become a catcher. When a person sees a referee, the framing of a ball into a strike is important. The KBO introduced the ABS system for the first time in the world, and declared strike based on tracking data. Naturally, there was no room for the framing of deceiving the referee's eyes to intervene, and an environment has been created in which catchers focus on the catch. Without the ABS, Kang would have been more difficult to adapt to the catcher.
However, Kang's number of catcher appearances decreased in the second half of the year. In the first half, Kang was in charge of Jang, but Cho Dae-hyun was more likely to play as a backup catcher from the second half. Kang played designated hitter for most of the second half.
Catchers were not satisfied with their defense as they lacked preparation. The rate of blocking stolen bases was not bad at 20.0 percent, but the rate of attempting to steal bases was very high at 15.0 percent. This is the highest among catchers who have played in more than 12 games. Park Sang-eon, who ranks second, ranks third with his ratio of allowing wild pitches and foils per nine innings (Pass/9), the highest in the league at 1.008.
The defensive position in 2025 is bound to be a hot topic.