I was going to say "thank you" and sign it and come out just by freezing it...”

Kim Joo-won (23), a 23-year-old infielder with the NC Dinos in the professional baseball league, did not have high expectations for his salary this year. "I went in without thinking at all, but I came out after signing the contract with a grateful heart for his kind words," he said. 먹튀검증

Kim had a batting average of 252 (97 hits in 385 at-bats) and nine homers, 49 RBIs and 16 steals in 134 games last year. He had 10 homers in the 2022-2023 season for the second straight year, but only nine homers last year. Most of the other records, however, were career highs. His batting average, hits, stolen bases, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS were all personal bests.

Despite the high season for his personal career, Kim did not expect much about his salary because he struggled amid a deep slump in the first half of the year, not least because of his team's performance that ranked ninth. In the first half of the year, Kim suffered from slow growth. He only had a batting average of 195 (41 hits in 210 at-bats) in 77 games, five homers, 28 RBIs and nine steals, and posted an OPS of .620. However, he showed a big twist in the second half. He had a batting average of 320 (56 hits in 175 at-bats), four homers and 21 RBIs in 57 games, and posted an OPS of .905. 

"I entered the office with the intention of saying 'thank you' even if you freeze it while negotiating," Kim said. However, Kim's performance was higher than expected. Kim's record was raised by 40 million won from 160 million won last year to 200 million won. Kim will receive the second highest annual salary after Kwon Hee-dong (225 million won) among those negotiating for the 2025 season. The annual salary has been rising vertically every year until the fifth season. 

In addition to his career-high performance, the club also took into account his contributions in defense. Kim played 1,023 ⅔ innings as shortstop last year. After Park Chan-ho (KIA·1120 ⅓ innings) and Park Sung-han (SSG·111 innings), who competed fiercely for the Golden Glove, Kim ranked third in defense innings. He played the most defense innings among the team's fielders. 

A club official said, "First of all, you have to play a lot of games to gain a lot of points for calculating the fruits. You have to travel a lot to build a lot of achievements. If you don't do well, you will end up with a lot of achievements, but there was a factor in the increase." He said he had some reasons for the increase.

"Actually, it's a career high season, but I'm ashamed of the numbers. I was very disappointed because it was so bad in the first half," he said. "Anyway, it was a season where I made a career high season and found something and gained something." 

Regarding the factors of the rebound in the second half, he said, "First of all, I kept practicing, and I tried to hit the outside well, but the practice started to come out well, so I enjoyed it by adding more fun there. I think it continued to fit well," and emphasized, "Even if we finish last year well, we have to continue to improve this year. Anyway, based on the good things from August to September, I'm going to study and practice how to be more powerful in it." 

Amid a severe slump in the first half of the year, Kim learned how to give up his greed. "I think I put down a little bit and became stronger internally after going through a slump in the first half," he said.

After experiencing the team's fall last year, and now as a key player with a considerable salary within the team, I'm going to spend 2025 with a sense of responsibility. "I felt sorry for the fall 2023 baseball season, and I couldn't go to the wild card and finished at the bottom, so I feel a lot of responsibility to do better. I was also angry," he said. 

When Kim was struggling with a slump in the early part of the season, Lee Ho-joon, a coach at LG at the time, felt sorry. Lee Ho-joon believes in Kim Joo-won, who overcame adversity. In the case of other positions, the team created a competitive structure, but left the shortstop position to Kim Joo-won early. 

He said, "I'm grateful that the coach thinks of me as his main shortstop. As such, the coach doesn't have to worry about it anymore