I hope you like it…Director Kim Kyung-moon calls me "son." I shouldn't have been the No. 1 prospect for the Yankees

I hope you like it…Director Kim Kyung-moon calls me "son." I shouldn't have been the No. 1 prospect for the Yankees

Blog Article

Hanwha Eagles coach Kim Kyung-moon, who is entering his 17th season as a head coach of the professional baseball league, has met as many foreign players as he has with his long career. While experiencing various players, one can feel a sense of whether he will succeed or not in Korea just by looking at his first impressions.메이저놀이터

The new foreign hitter seems to like Esteban Floral (28) very much as he sees the player's attitude and hidden temperament. While watching Floral at the Melbourne spring camp in Australia, the honey is dripping from his eyes. He even called him "My son."

As a serious personality, Kim showed a strong attitude toward training. He shows sincerity in warming up early by playing baseball in his own routine before the start of training. "He is a player that I want to help as a coach. He has a good attitude. He has a strong will to succeed. He is still young, so if he does well here, he can go back to the Major League. I hope he does well."

"This is the style that my coach will like. He is a baseball player, so he runs and moves diligently every moment," Hanwha said when it signed the contract. He kept his business etiquette by wearing a neat suit at the place where we met to sign the contract in December last year. As a Haitian citizen who grew up in the Dominican Republic, he can speak English proficiently, unlike ordinary Latin American players. As a former Major League-renowned Yankees, he looks like a well-educated intelligent. During a defense training session on April 30, when rookie outfielder Lee Min-jae fell while trying to dive catch, Floral ran and raised his hand.

"I signed with the New York Yankees and started studying English when I moved to the U.S.," Floral said at the Melbourne Ballpark during the camp. "I had to learn English in most of the U.S. as I speak English," he said. "Now I am adapting myself to Korean style. I try to use even a little Korean to communicate with my teammates. Korean food is good, too. Kim Tae-yeon, my catch ball partner, is very interesting, and she is helping me adjust to the situation."

With a physique of 185 centimeters and 88 kilograms, Floral, a right-handed and left-handed outfielder, signed an international amateur contract with the New York Yankees in March 2015 and has grown into a promising player. In 2019, he swept the list of promising Yankees players in major media such as MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, and FanGraph. He is considered a center fielder in his main position and is capable of hitting 30 home runs and 30 steals with above-average power, speed, and throwing ability.

However, he showed weakness after his Major League debut in 2020 by hitting with low accuracy, and failed to show potential even after being traded to the Cleveland Guardians last year. After the season, he was released as a minor league FA, and Hanwha, which had paid attention to and expressed interest in Floral for a year, quickly snatched him. Floral, who needed a turning point in his career, also decided to go to Korea.

"I had offers in the U.S., but Hanwha has shown interest in me since before. Rather than coming in the middle of the season, I decided to sign a contract because I wanted to be with him from the beginning," he said. "I don't know much about Korean baseball, but I asked foreign players who played here before. I was close to Socrates (former KIA), who played for the same team before, and I was told that Korean baseball is full of energy and fun. I heard that it is a league where pitchers throw many breaking balls and there is a lot of competition."

The center field defense and base running are well recognized in the Major League. For Hanwha, which has a weak center field and lacks fast-paced players, Floral is a necessary type. "Defence and base running are my strengths. It's my style to play hard and focus and defend every moment," he said.

Defensive defense and base running are important, but hitting is also the top priority for foreign hitters. Although Floral has poor accuracy and a high strikeout rate, he has slugging power with 65 home runs in four seasons of Triple-A. Floral, who hit 28 home runs in 2023, said, "I don't get greedy for long balls such as home runs or doubles. I try to get on base by hitting the ball accurately," adding, "I will try to win the team more than individually. My biggest goal is to win the championship."