With pitcher Lim Ki-young opting to stay in the Kia Tigers, only five players are left in the FA market. Among them, infielder Ha Joo-seok is drawing the most attention. With his pursuit of signature-and-trade already publicized, Ha seems to be pursuing signature-and-trade as he is eyeing a long-term game in January beyond the end of the year.스포츠토토
Lim Ki-young stamped his remaining seal on the 21st on the condition of a three-year contract worth 1.5 billion won with KIA. As a result, a total of five players remain in the FA market, including Ha Joo-seok, pitchers Lee Yong-chan, Moon Sung-hyun, infielder Seo Geon-chang and outfielder Kim Sung-wook.
Among the remaining players, Ha Joo-seok is by far the largest in weight class. Ha Joo-seok is in the FA market as a B grade after obtaining his first FA qualification. Since there are certainly clubs that want shortstop resources, there has been a lot of talk from the beginning of the FA market about Ha Joo-seok's destination.
Ha, a right-handed and left-handed infielder born in 1994, made his professional debut by wearing the Hanwha Eagles uniform as the No. 1 overall pick in the first round of his rookie year in 2012. Ha, who has been evaluated as a resource for next-generation shortstop, has grown up with opportunities (70 games) to play in the first division since his debut in the 2012 season.
Ha Joo-seok, who later joined the Sangmu Baseball Team and solved military problems, has been a regular shortstop for three seasons as he has established himself as the team's main shortstop in the 2016 season.
However, Ha returned to the 2020 season after being ruled out for the season due to a cruciate ligament injury in the 2019 season. Ha made his career high season with a batting average of 0.272, 143 hits, 10 homers, 68 RBIs, 23 steals, a 0.346 on-base percentage and a 0.392 slugging percentage in 138 games in the 2021 season.
Ha Joo-seok played in 64 games in the 2024 season and hit 0.292, 40 hits, 11 RBIs, an on-base percentage of 0.349, and a slugging percentage of 0.394.
Immediately after the opening of the free agent market, Hanwha recruited shortstop Shim Woo-joon to an external free agent contract. Shim left KT Wiz for a total of 5 billion won (approx. In fact, he had no choice but to foretell his departure from Ha, an existing shortstop resource.
However, Ha had difficulty transferring to the FA due to the shackles of bleeding compensation players in addition to the 25 players on the protected list. In the end, it seems that they have to find a way out through sign-and-trade. Hanwha and Ha Joo-seok shared opinions on the situation that continued before and after the opening of the FA market. It is known that the Hanwha team has also opened the sign-and-trade window to some extent in consideration of Ha's future career.
However, there was no significant progress in Ha Joo-seok's signing and trade negotiations until December. There were clubs interested in recruiting Ha Joo-seok, but they have not actively set up a table yet. However, it is known that the possibility of Ha Joo-seok's signing and trade has not disappeared at all.
Ha said, "We will continue to push for Ha's signing and trade. I don't think it's a possibility at all, so if it gets longer, we can watch the situation until January."
Most clubs have recently entered the end of the year vacation period with the closing ceremony. In the end, the possibility of Ha Joo-seok's signing and trade seems to be caught in early and mid-January. It is also the last opportunity to reorganize the team's power before leaving the spring camp at the end of January. In addition, in the case of A club, there is a big variable in the position of shortstop. In many ways, attention is expected to be paid to the movement of Ha Joo-seok and some clubs in January.