I know very well that this is an opportunity that does not come easily. This is especially true because, unfortunately, I only finished in second place. LG’s starting catcher Park Dong-won (33) expressed his desperation to win the Korean Series (KS).
This is the third KS coming from LG since 2014 and 2019 when he was with Heroes. In 2014, when it faced Samsung, KS ended in the 6th game, and in 2019, when it faced Doosan, it ended in vain in the 4th game.
I am standing on the top stage again after 4 years, but the process is different this year. Unlike the last two times, they are in a position to wait for their opponent after winning the regular season. After finishing the Blue and White game held at LG Champions Park in Icheon on the 26th, Park Dong-won revealed his intention to join KS as the starting catcher.
The following is a Q&A between reporters and Park Dong-won.
-Excluded from entry as of October 7th. How did you spend your time before training in Icheon?
Although it was excluded from the entries, Jamsil Stadium consistently appeared. I prepared by continuing to run and exercise.굿모닝토토
-I heard that he was excluded from entry to treat a left wrist injury. How is your wrist condition?
In the middle of the season, I injured my wrist while tagging an opposing runner as he came home. Afterwards, I got sick often, but after missing the entry, I received intensive treatment. He is completely fine now and is doing well in catcher training.
-It seems like the time to prepare for KS will be long. Don’t you think it’s a bit boring?
I’m just preparing for fun. I watch every game because I’m curious who the opposing team will be. We look forward to seeing ourselves on a stage like that soon. In the past, we watched postseason games because we were curious about which team would win at the end of the season, but now we watch the games thinking about who will come and how we will deal with them because we are at the top.
-I tried KS twice. Those were 2014 and 2019. Looking back on those years, what do you think is important in KS?
Looking back at my past KS, there were a few times when I had to catch an out and couldn’t catch it. There have been times when I was unable to cope with variables. In November, the weather is cold and there is a lot of dew on the grass. It was very slippery and mistakes were made. I think that if you don’t make these mistakes and play basicly, you will get good results.
-It is usually said that pitchers are important in short-term games. In LG’s case, it would be an advantage for the pitchers to rest well and prepare a lot. Moreover, there are many pitchers with good pitches. As the starting catcher, what do you think about this?
I think this also has variables. I’m not a pitcher so I don’t know much, but I think resting and preparing well will help. However, because pitchers are so sensitive, there may be a problem of lack of sense of the game. First of all, I also have expectations for good performance. Still, I have to go to KS, catch the ball, and check the opponent’s batter.
-Then, when we played against the No. 1 team in 2014 and 2019. Did you ever think that the opposing team’s pitchers were good at pitching?
I thought it was good. Above all, there was a big difference between our pitcher and the opposing pitcher. In the case of our pitchers, they came up from the bottom by playing games that required a lot of stamina. As I was catching the ball, I felt like the power of the ball was dropping.
-Looking at the Cheongbaekjeon match, it looks like the batting is good. I heard that during training camp in Icheon, hitters do a lot of training to maintain their feel for fast balls.
Keep hitting the ball. Even when training at night, I spend a lot of time maintaining my batting sense. I also play machine balls to get used to fast balls, and I think this will be a big help.
-The resolution I made when I came to LG last winter has almost come true. He hit 20 home runs and won the regular season, and now there’s just one left.
It wasn’t like he promised 20 home runs. I thought it would be possible to hit 20 home runs after about 400 at-bats, but fortunately, I got 20 home runs. I really wanted to win rather than homerun. So far, I think I’m most proud of winning the regular season. During the interview, I said that I wanted to keep the LG Twins at the top of the leaderboard, and I’m glad that they kept that promise.
-Now only the last stage, KS, remains. I don’t know who the opponent will be, but it seems certain that the atmosphere at Jamsil Stadium will be very hot. How do you feel when you think about KS being held in Jamsil?
First of all, our fans will come and visit us in great numbers. It gives me great encouragement to think that our fans will come to more than half of Jamsil Stadium, which seats about 25,000 people, and support us. When we do well, don’t we applaud and shout together? Every time that happens, I think of playing baseball together with our fans and fighting the opposing team together. The short-term match is a battle of atmosphere, and I think the fans will really give us great strength in the atmosphere.
-Have you ever imagined what it would be like after the final count that confirms KS’s victory goes up?
I thought about it and drew it, but I don’t think it will be easy to get the picture I want. First of all, you can do what you want only if you win comfortably by a large score margin. On the other hand, if it’s a close game until the end, you can’t even think about such things. I thought about how I should get the last out and run, but to do that, I need to win comfortably.
-There was no victory ceremony in the last two KSs. I was so disappointed at that time that I think I would like to win even more this time.
I remember that time vividly. I remember 2014 rather than 2019, and the location at that time was Jamsil. As I was leaving the baseball stadium after losing Game 6, there was a lot of white pollen flying around the home plate. I looked back without realizing it and saw it, and it looked really cool. Later, I realized that I really wanted to win and be in that position. I really want to be there this year.
-Can you name one pitcher who you look forward to as a catcher or who you really hope will perform well?
This is Kelly, the starter in the first round. I hope Kelly gets off to a good start and I think he will do well. In fact, she feels sorry for Kelly.
I didn’t know much about Kelly at the beginning of the season. I found out later that Kelly prepared as much as the catcher and took a lot of notes. It would have been better if we had known this from the beginning and had more conversations before the game. I missed this part.
Since he is a player with so much experience, I thought he would prefer to guess while playing without asking in advance. That wasn’t it. Later, after learning that Kelly prepared a lot, he told me his game plan and asked me to share it with him. From then on, we got along really well. At first, it was difficult to find the ball Kelly wanted, but as he shared what he had studied before the game, he quickly learned what kind of ball Kelly wanted to throw.
-KS I think there is a desire for the Rolex that you receive when you become MVP.
First, you have to win. If we win, won’t everyone at LG Club be happy, including our players, coaches, and front office staff? I think fans will really like it too. That’s the most important thing to me. If I win, someone will receive a Rolex, but I have no desire for the Rolex. I just want to win and receive a championship ring. I think I will be really happy if I wear the championship ring after winning.