KT Wiz Kang Baek-ho (23) struggled to sign the 2023 annual salary contract. It fell from 550 million won to 290 million won. It decreased by 260 million won (47.3%), close to half. He meant that if he did well, he had to raise it, so if he didn’t, he had to cut that much. Kang Baek-ho endured the club’s proposal, but signed before the start of spring camp. 

As his high school rookie, he made his 2018 debut and went on a winning streak. He received 27 million won, 120 million won in the 2019 season, 210 million won in the 2020 season, and 300 million won in the 2021 season, and then soared to 550 million won in the 2022 season. It was thanks to the genius hitter’s ability to show off without regret. The 2021 season was a contributor to his first win. 

Kang Baek-ho’s fifth-year annual salary of 550 million won was the same as Kiwoom’s batting genius Lee Jung-hoo. Lee Jung-hoo also joined the team in 2017 and became the rookie of the year, and continued to raise his salary. In the 5th year of the 2021 season, he received 550 million won. However, in the results of the 6th year, the contrast between the two genius hitters was starkly different. 

Kang Baek-ho had two injuries and only 먹튀검증 264 at-bats in 62 games. He only had 2.4, 5.6 home runs, 29 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.683. It was not Kang Baek-ho, who recorded an average of 20 homers, 85 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.931 over the 4 years until the 2021 season. He lost the technical skills throughout the hitting he had built. 

Lee Jung-hoo became the batting champion in the 2021 season, which was his fifth year. He had a batting average of 3.6 with 7 homers, 84 RBIs and 76 runs. Although he only hit 7 home runs, he recorded an OPS of 0.960, including a slugging percentage of 5.2 and 2.0. The annual salary for 2022 was raised by 200 million won to 750 million won. And in the 2022 season, he won the batting king, MVP and Golden Gloves for the second year in a row. The number of home runs also increased to 23, and the OPS increased to 0.996.

In the end, the gap between Kang Baek-ho and Lee Jung-hoo’s 6th year salary widened to 460 million won. Lee Jung-hoo raised his 2023 annual salary to 1.1 billion won. In particular, at the end of the 2023 season, he will advance to the major leagues through the posting system. Reports are already coming out predicting a contract worth 100 million dollars (approximately 123.5 billion won). He also signed a contract with super agent Scott Boras. Looking forward to the highest amount ever. 

Kang Baek-ho went through his first ordeal, but he has plenty of potential. Despite his slump last year, he entered the WBC as a representative. In spring camp, the will to turn a crisis into an opportunity became important. He must make a great comeback in the regular season with the WBC to regain the title of genius hitter and follow the path of Lee Jung-hoo.