"Conquering Asia" Ha Hyun-seung: "I Will Focus on Pitching"

[Anchor]

Ha Hyun-seung, who returned to Korea after delivering an overwhelming performance at the U-18 Asian Baseball Championship, has revealed his future plans. Although he has largely been evaluated higher for his talent as a batter until now, he stated that based on the confidence he gained this time, he will focus on pitching in the pros.

Reporter Bae Jeonghun has the story.

[Reporter]

The dominant pitching displayed by Ha Hyun-seung in this tournament is unprecedented.

Stepping onto the mound only in tough games—including two matches against Japan and one against Taiwan—he delivered a dazzling performance of 15 and 2/3 innings, 25 strikeouts, 3 hits allowed, and zero runs. He achieved the feat of a "zero ERA (earned run average)," something even senior aces of past U-18 national teams failed to accomplish.

[Jung Yoon-jin / Manager, U-18 National Baseball Team: Because he has a performance that batters find difficult to hit easily, I think he might become a national treasure-class pitcher for South Korea in the future.]

What makes Ha Hyun-seung even more surprising is that domestic and international clubs have unanimously evaluated his ability as a batter higher than as a pitcher until now.

However, Ha solidified his thoughts regarding his career path through this tournament.

Feeling that he has grown a step further as a pitcher, he stated that he will focus on pitching in the professional leagues.

[Ha Hyun-seung / Pitcher, U-18 National Baseball Team: After finishing this tournament, I think my potential as a pitcher is a bit higher than I had thought, so to be honest, I think it would be great to just pitch (from now on).]

Ha Hyun-seung is virtually certain to be selected by the Kiwoom Heroes with the first overall pick in the rookie draft on the 21st, and attention is now sharply focused on whether he will break the record for the highest signing bonus in KBO history—1 billion won set by Han Ki-ju in 2006.

(Camera: Park Hyun-chul | Video Editing: Hwang Ji-young | Design: Hwang Se-yeon)

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