Now he has taken his first step as ‘KT Man’. This is the story of Kim Sang-soo (33), who will lead the 2023 season as the new infield commander of the Wizard Corps. Kim Sang-soo, who went to his first spring camp at KT with excitement and anticipation, set the goal of quickly adapting and completing the guerrilla defense.

On the 29th, Kim Sang-soo departed 메이저놀이터 from Incheon International Airport Terminal 2 to participate in the spring camp starting in Arizona, USA. Kim Sang-soo, who obtained FA (free agent) qualification after the end of last season, signed a four-year contract with KT for a total of 2.9 billion won. At the time of his first free agency in 2019, he stayed with Samsung for a total of 1.8 billion won over three years, and after his second free agent, he set up a nest at KT and took on a new challenge.

After graduating from Gyeongbuk High School, Kim Sang-soo joined Samsung as the first choice in the 2009 rookie draft and played for 14 years until 2022. He is the main player who led Samsung’s unified victory for four consecutive years from 2011 to 2014. He appeared in 1552 career games, most of which were shortstop appearances. He even briefly moved to second base, but he returned to shortstop and was in good form. However, he has not been able to show any outstanding performance lately.

Last season, Kim Sang-soo played only 72 games due to an injury and recorded a batting average of 0.251 and an OPS (slugging percentage + on-base percentage) of 0.628. However, if you look at ‘Shortstop Kim Sang-soo’, his performance is very impressive. This is because he returned as a shortstop from acting manager Park Jin-man last August and rebounded with a batting average of 0.301, one home run and 15 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.700. With shortstop Shim Woo-jun missing, he is a perfect fit for KT in many ways.

Kim Sang-soo’s homework for this spring camp is quick adaptation and completion of the shortstop defense. I listened to his story of leaving for America with excitement and anticipation despite the awkwardness. The following is a Q&A with Kim Sang-soo.

– How do you feel about your first spring camp after transferring?
I go to the Okinawa camp every year (Arizona, USA) and I think it will be difficult because I went too far.

-How did you spend your off-season?
He did a lot of individual workouts. Also, even though I moved to Suwon on the 10th, I continued to focus on exercising in Daegu because I was working out. He came up to Suwon on the 26th.
He continued to focus on sports in Daegu.

-It’s a new start at KT. Is there anything you would like to change?
First of all, moving is a new change for me, and in a way, all parts have changed, so I didn’t try to make a big change in other parts. I thought a lot about doing it according to my routine as I did before.

-Each team has a different spring camp atmosphere. How do you adapt?
– It’s a style where I don’t feel awkward, but now I feel it a lot. I’m from a different team, so there’s something awkward about it. I think time will probably solve this part by wearing the same uniform and playing together in spring camp.

-What did you focus on this spring camp?
-I think I need to do a lot of defensive training. Because although I played as a shortstop in the second half of last year, there is still a big gap for shortstop. That’s why I think I need to practice a lot of shortstop defense. (Shim) Woo-Jun, who was previously at KT, showed a lot of good looks in defense, so I think I have to prepare well so that there is no such gap. Still, when I played shortstop late last year, I thought, ‘I can still do it’. I have confidence.

-Did coach Lee Kang-chul order anything else before spring camp?
– No separate orders have been placed yet. At first, he just said ‘let’s do well’. I think that the director’s appearance will have a positive effect on me.