Kim Kang-min (41), who stood in front of reporters for the first time after transferring to the Hanwha Eagles, looked brighter than expected. Kim Kang-min met with reporters at Incheon International Airport before moving to Australia, the Hanwha spring camp site, on the 30th.Kim Kang-min, dressed in a youthful suit, said with a smile, “I couldn’t sleep worrying about what kind of questions would be asked. Because of my situation, I turned down a lot of interviews. I’m sorry and thank you for waiting.”
Kim Kang-min, who had only played for SSG Landers and SK Wyverns (predecessor of SSG) since 2001, was surprisingly selected by Hanwha in the KBO 2nd round draft on November 22 last year .SSG was criticized for taking the easy action of not including Kim Kang-min among the 35 protected players, which led to Kim Kang-min’s sudden departure. Kim Kang-min was also quite shocked as he was contemplating whether to retire at the time, and even after deciding to continue his career as a player at Hanwha, he did not respond to media interviews for about three months. Kim Kang-min, whom I met after a long time, seemed to have tried to shake off his regrets about his former team during the winter .Kim Kang-min said calmly, “First of all, since I am a professional baseball player, I focused on playing baseball. I made a decision that allowed me to play as a player,” and added, “I had no time to think about anything else.”
He said, “I was worried a lot about what kind of performance I would show on the baseball field and on the field,” and “So I started working out early and invested a lot of time into getting in shape.” Kim Kang-min said with a smile, “I have a lot of anticipation and excitement about the new team,” and added, “(The new uniform) felt awkward, but the material is very comfortable. If I keep wearing it, I think I’ll get used to it.” However, the memories of SSG, where I have worked for 23 years, cannot suddenly disappear .Kim Kang-min said to SSG fans, “I want to say thank you. I can’t forget that long time,” and then added, “I still really like the team called SSG. There are also juniors who have been with me for a long time, so I don’t have any bad feelings. “He emphasized. His affection for SSG fans is also evident in the uniform number (9) engraved on the Hanwha uniform. SSG used the number 0.Kim Kang-min explained, “I thought that number 0 would be the number by which SSG and SK fans remember me,” and added, “I want to be remembered as a different number at Hanwha. ”Regarding the meaning of number 9, he said, “It’s simple. It’s similar to number 0,” and “I wanted to wear a single-digit number, and number 9, which I remember wearing in the national team, was a 슬롯게이밍 little more familiar.”