SSG Landers says goodbye to dynasty catcher Lee Jae-won.

The SSG team said goodbye to catcher Lee Jae-won on Thursday.

Lee Jae-won, who was born in Incheon, became famous as the catcher that the SK Wyverns (SSG’s predecessor) chose over Ryu Hyun-jin with the first overall pick in 2005. At the time, SK took the promising catcher over Ryu, who was coming off elbow surgery, in anticipation of Kim Kwang-hyun coming up a year later.

Ryu went on to win the Triple Crown in his rookie season, and has since moved on to the Major Leagues. Lee Jae-won also had a successful career in the KBO. As a designated hitter and pinch-hitter, he helped build the SK dynasty. In 2015, his ninth year in the organization, he put on a catcher’s mask.

He was one of Incheon’s biggest franchise stars, leading the team to the Korean Series title in 2018 as the starting catcher with his hard-hitting bat and steady defense, earning a four-year, 6.9 billion won free agent contract.

Since then, however, he has struggled as the aging curve has taken a sharp turn. He was removed from the 35-man roster and went unselected in the second round of the draft. SSG signed two catchers, 카지노사이트가이드 Park Dae-on (NC) and Shin Beom-soo (KIA), and the breakup began in earnest. After the draft, team president Kim Sung-yong explained, “We will discuss Lee Jae-won’s future with the player himself.”

In the end, Lee Jae-won agreed with the club and left the team he had been with for 18 years.

In addition to Lee Jae-won, SSG also announced the release of pitchers Im Joon-seok, Kim Joo-han, and Yang Sun-ryul. Pitcher Seo Dong-min announced his intention to retire.