Noh Si-hwan (25) of the Hanwha Eagles is preparing for the season with an unrecognizable change. He has lost a whopping 10 kilograms. He is trying to find a good performance again in 2023.

"I'm maintaining my weight. I ate less than I normally eat, ate less carbohydrates, and lost weight by exercising," Noh said at a meeting at the Hanwha spring camp site in Melbourne Park in Australia on Tuesday.안전놀이터

Naturally, he has become much lighter. "I think he has definitely improved in defense, speed and quickness during batting training," Noh said with a smile.

Noh was assigned a mission by Kim Kyung-moon at the wrap-up camp held in Miyazaki, Japan last year. Kim gave assignments to individual players. To Noh, it was "loss of weight."

According to head coach Kim Kyung-moon, Noh Si-hwan said, "I will definitely bring it out."

When asked about this, he said, "I promised to make my body right until spring camp," and added, "I've always lost weight before the season, so I haven't had such a hard time."

Manager Kim Kyung-moon expressed satisfaction. "(Roh) Si-hwan has a lot of responsibilities. He is our team's flagship player. It's good to have prepared like this."

Losing weight is to prevent injury. "When I hit, I get a little pain in my knees. Injury was the first reason, and externally, I lost weight because of the part that speeds up my swing speed," he said.

Noh has established himself as the best hitter in the KBO League in 2023. That year, he recorded a batting average of 0.298, 31 homers, 101 RBIs and a slugging percentage of 0.541 and an OPS of 0.929, winning the title of home run and RBI. He was also happy to win the Golden Glove award.

He also had the honor of being a member of the national team. The fourth batter also participated in the Hangzhou Asian Games and the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC).

However, he couldn't play full time due to injury last year, which left him regretful. He played 136 games and recorded a batting average of 0.272, 24 homers, 89 RBIs and an OPS of 0.810.

Noh Si-hwan said, "I feel sorry that I didn't finish the season well due to the injury," but added, "But honestly, I thought it would be okay if I hit 20 home runs as my goal before the start of last season. They say it's a disappointing season because expectations for me have increased, but personally, I don't think it was too bad."

However, the spotlight that Noh received went to his junior Kim Do-young (KIA Tigers). Kim posted an impressive batting average of 0.347 with 38 home runs, 109 RBIs, and 40 steals with an OPS of 1.067. He also won the Golden Glove, the third baseman, and the MVP that Noh could not ride.

Noh is aiming to recapture the title. "I have never thought of myself as a rival in baseball. I think the most important thing in my team is to remain silent," he said. "But I think it's good to compete for the title. I think it will be more fun to compete with fans, rather than to hit it alone. The more you hit home runs, the more helpful you will be to your team. I will compete with Kim Do-young for home run."

It is the same thing that we prepared for the 2023 season while preparing for this season. It is training with Lee Dae-ho. "Last year, (Lee Dae-ho) was also busy, and I couldn't train together because I had a lot of schedules such as award ceremonies and YouTube appearances. He asked me to do it after the last season, so I did it together in Busan," Noh said with a smile.

We practiced batting together about three times. Noh Si-hwan said, "My senior gave me a lot of advice. He especially told me about directions. He told me to think about which direction to hit when I hit the bat. Last year, I just hit it. He caught these details."

Hanwha only ranked ninth in 2023 and eighth in 2024. However, it has been reinforcing efforts on a large scale for two years. It brought Chae Eun-seong, Um Sang-baek and Shim Woo-joon as free agents. And Ryu Hyun-jin is back. As a result, expectations for advance to the round of five teams have grown even higher this year.

Noh Si-hwan said, "Of course, my goal is fall baseball. Of course, my goal is to win, but I think my first goal is to reach the top five. Personally, I hope it doesn't hurt. As long as it doesn't hurt, my results will come out. I hope I can continue the season without rehabilitating."