LG Rookie Moon Jung-bin, Leading the League in Exit Velocity and Emerging as Rookie of the Year Contender

[Anchor]

Rookie slugger Moon Jung-bin has been stepping up as a pillar of strength for the LG Twins, who have been struggling recently.

Reporter Yu Byeongmin met with Moon Jung-bin, who is hitting home runs left and right with the fastest batted-ball velocity among domestic hitters, rapidly emerging as a Rookie of the Year contender.

[Reporter]

Moon Jung-bin, a lifelong avid fan of the LG Twins, made his dream come true when he was drafted by LG in the 8th round in 2022. However, he soon hit the wall of professional baseball and enlisted for active-duty military service the following year.

Because of that, he had to watch on TV from his barracks as LG won the Korean Series for the first time in 23 years that season.

[Moon Jung-bin / LG Infielder: It was past the time for roll call, but I remember shouting when senior player Oh Ji-hwan hit a 3-run home run in the Korean Series against the KT Wiz in Suwon, and I got called out and scolded for it.]

Stepping onto the first-team stage for the first time last year without making any significant impact, Moon completely overhauled his batting stance over the winter.

[Moon Jung-bin / LG Infielder: Last year, when the ball came in, I used to swing with a slightly upward trajectory, but this year I do the exact opposite. When the ball comes, I try to get underneath it a bit to create line-drive hits.]

After changing his swing, Moon transformed into a completely different hitter.

After joining the first team in May, he smashed 15 home runs, the second most on the team following Austin, along with 5 game-winning hits. Ranking 3rd in league home runs and 2nd in RBIs in the second half of the season, he has thrown the Rookie of the Year race—previously dominated by Hanwha's Huh In-seo—into deep uncertainty.

Backed by tremendous power, he surpassed an average exit velocity of 141 km/h, beating out national team sluggers of the same age such as Kim Do-young and Ahn Hyun-min to claim the number one spot among domestic batters.

Moon vows to become the clutch solver who leads a recently shaky LG squad back to the Korean Series for a second consecutive year.

[Moon Jung-bin / LG Infielder: I naturally believe our team can make it to the Korean Series, and my personal goal is to get to play in the Korean Series at least once.]

(Camera Reporter: Yoo Dong-hyuk, Video Editing: Ha Seong-won)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.