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

[Anchor]

Ha Hyun-seung, who returned home 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 Jung-hoon has the story.

[Reporter]

The overwhelming pitching that Ha Hyun-seung showcased in this tournament is unprecedented.

Taking the mound only in tough games—including two matches against Japan and one against Taiwan—he posted a dazzling performance of 15 and 2/3 innings, 25 strikeouts, 3 hits allowed, and zero runs, achieving a "zero ERA" feat that even senior aces of past U-18 national teams failed to accomplish.

[Jung Yoon-jin / Manager, U-18 National Baseball Team: Because his performance makes it truly difficult for batters to hit off him, I believe he will become a national treasure-class pitcher for South Korea in the future.]

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

However, Ha solidified his career path through this tournament.

Stating that he feels he has grown a step further as a pitcher, he declared that he will focus entirely on pitching in the professional ranks.

[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 previously thought. To be honest, I think it would be great to just focus on pitching from now on.]

Ha Hyun-seung is widely expected to be selected by the Kiwoom Heroes with the number one overall pick in the rookie draft on the 21st, and attention is now sharply focused on whether he will break the all-time record signing bonus of 1 billion won set by Han Ki-joo in 2006.

(Filmed by Park Hyun-cheol | Video Edited by Hwang Ji-young | Designed by Hwang Se-yeon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.