LG Twins‘ Oh Ji-hwan mentioned the fact that he received 12.4 billion won in his second free agent contract.

Oh Ji-hwan, who appeared on the YouTube channel ‘Jung Keun-woo’s Baseball Life’ released on the 2nd, explained the background of his player value evaluation tripling from 4 billion won in his first free agent contract to 12 billion won in his second free agent contract, saying, “It‘s because of my family.”

Oh Ji-hwan, who joined LG as the first draft pick in 2009, obtained his first free agent status after the 2019 season ended. At that time, he signed a 4-year, 4 billion won contract with LG (1.6 billion won signing bonus, total annual salary 2.4 billion won), and in 2023, he signed a 6-year, 12.4 billion won contract (10 billion won guaranteed, 2.4 billion won option) in his second free agent contract.

Oh Ji-hwan said, “After getting married, my wife and I lived happily in an officetel like we were dating, but I had a child when I was first a free agent. I realized what a blessing it is to become a father, but at the same time, I felt a heavy sense of responsibility.” He said, “Baseball as a job approached me differently. From then on, I sharpened my knife to be properly evaluated. When I was receiving the criticism that I should have received from my family, I really wanted to play baseball better.”

In the end, 4 years later, Oh Ji-hwan’s annual salary tripled. Oh Ji-hwan, reflecting on his 2023 FA contract, said, “I thought it was because I had a family and a sense of stability and responsibility that I became like this, and I promised myself that I would work harder and give my all for the last six years at LG.” In fact, Oh Ji-hwan proved his worth by giving the gift of a championship to LG, which believed in him last year, and even winning the MVP.

Oh Ji-hwan said, “I feel sorry for getting hurt unintentionally and the team‘s performance being poor this year,” and added, “I am still preparing for next season by running every morning.”

On this day, Oh Ji-hwan opened up about the negative image some baseball fans had of him in the past and the hardships manager Sun Dong-ryeol went through because of that image, saying, “I am so grateful and sorry to the manager,” and “I thought I tried hard, but I realized that I didn’t. “The conclusion is that my efforts were lacking,” he confessed.

The incident that Oh Ji-hwan mentioned was in 2018, regarding the national baseball team coach Sun Dong-ryeol’s state audit. At the time, coach Sun Dong-ryeol and the national team returned after winning the gold medal at the Jakarta Palembang Asian Games, but a civic group raised suspicions that coach Sun Dong-ryeol had received an illicit request in the selection of players, and Oh Ji-hwan was named as the person involved. During the state audit, Sun Dong-ryeol stated his belief that “I selected the player in the best condition at the moment.”

No evidence was presented to support this, and the case ended without any conclusion. As a result, it remained as an incident that only tarnished the reputations of Oh Ji-hwan, who devoted himself to the national team and contributed to the gold medal, and Sun Dong-ryeol, a “national treasure pitcher.”

Regarding this, Jung Keun-woo said, ”There was no one as good at defense as Oh Ji-hwan, and I would have picked Oh Ji-hwan too,“ and consoled him, saying, ”I think Oh Ji-hwan got through that time well and grew.“

Photo = ‘Jung Keun-woo’s Baseball Life‘Lee Seul-bi, Donga.com reporter misty82@donga.com