“If you get hit again, you can operate.”
KT Wiz infielder Lee Ho-yeon 꽁머니 (28) left the Lotte Giants in May through a one-on-one trade with Shim Jae-min and wore a KT uniform.
Lee Ho-yeon, who had not played in the first division this season before coming to KT, performed best as soon as he came to KT. In 25 games, he was active with a batting average of 0.286 22 hits, one home run, 10 RBIs and 7 runs scored.
On June 16, he hit his first final hit in the match against the Suwon Samsung Lions, and on the 18th, he made his first four-hit game in his debut. He played well as a substitute for Park Kyung-soo.
But the sky was indifferent, too. Misfortune came to Lee Ho-yeon, who was doing well. Lee Ho-yeon fell down after being hit in the face by a foul ball he hit against Lotte in Suwon on the 21st of last month. A regrettable injury with a fracture near the left nasal bone. KT manager Lee Kang-chul also regretted the departure of Lee Ho-yeon, who has grown to the starting lineup.
However, Lee Ho-yeon worked on rehabilitation with an indomitable will. He showed a monstrous recovery speed and played in the Futures League game 17 days after being injured. Lee Ho-yeon appeared in the Futures KIA match held at Iksan Stadium on the 7th. He went 3-for-3 in his return game. KT, which was in urgent need of a rebound, immediately put Lee Ho-yeon on the first-tier entry. He returned to the first team after 18 days.
Lee Ho-yeon, who packed up and drove to Suwon right after the match on the 7th, arrived at 1 a.m. on the 8th. And he started against the Suwon KIA Tigers on the 8th. As such, it was evidence that Lee Ho-yeon was needed for KT. Although the team lost, Lee Ho-yeon made a strong comeback by shooting a home run against KIA starter Mario Sanchez.
Lee Ho-yeon, whom I met on the 8th, said, “I’m not sick anywhere right now. That doesn’t mean there’s no pain at all,” he said. “I was upset when I first got hurt. But I wanted to return as soon as possible. After resting at home for about three days, he joined the rehabilitation group and quickly recovered his condition. It’s always good to play in the first division. I came here with excitement,” he said.
After being hit in the face, it can cause trauma. It was his first time experiencing such an experience, so it was natural that he was scared.
“It was scary at first,” he said. I was hit in the face for the first time while playing baseball. However, when I thought, “If I get hit, I can operate again,” I got better. I wonder if I’ll get hit again,” he said with a smile.
“If I was worried about my injury, I wouldn’t have played baseball. Even if I get injured, I think it’s my luck. I’m going to leave it to heaven,” he added.
Even when I couldn’t play baseball, I kept thinking about baseball by doing image training. In addition, coach Lee Sung-yeol’s help was a great help to Lee Ho-yeon’s quick return.
He said, “I thought of baseball even when I was resting. I did a lot of image training. In addition, coach Lee Sung-yeol helped me a lot when I was in the residual group. I kept hitting because I said I had to hit a lot,” he laughed.