The ‘Beast’ who brought five championships to Incheon baseball is headed to Daejeon.
Veteran SSG Landers outfielder Kim Kang-min (41), who was selected by the Hanwha Eagles in the second round of the draft, has decided to continue his active career.
Hanwha said in a press release on the afternoon of the 24th, “Kim Kang-min visited the club’s office today and expressed his intention to extend his playing career.
We plan to include him in the list of pending players to be submitted to the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) on the 25th.”
![](https://koyie.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-42.png)
Each team has until the 25th to submit its list of suspended players to the KBO.
Kim is a “one-club man,” having played for the same organization for 23 years, starting with the Eskay (SK) Wyverns, the predecessor of the ESL.
With the player’s strong desire to stay active, ESG was complacent and did not include him on the 35-man protected list for the second draft, and Hanwha, with a shallow outfield depth, drafted Kim in the fourth round ($100 million in compensation).
The team later said, “We were discussing retirement and coach training with the player.
We didn’t expect to draft a player who is about to retire at the age of 41,” but the water was already spilled.
Faced with the choice of transferring to Hanwha or retiring, Kim decided to extend his career after much deliberation.
Hanwha’s coaching staff includes former teammates Chung Kyung-bae and Park Jae-sang, as well as playing coach Chung Woo-ram.
![](https://koyie.xyz/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-43.png)