He takes over as captain in place of Son Ah-seop in the middle of the 2024 season.
“We will revive the culture created by Director Ho-Jun Lee.”
NC Dinos Park Min-woo (31), who is wearing the captain’s armband again this year, is united in his determination to create ‘one team.’
As coach Lee Ho-jun, who was the captain at the time he joined, has become the new head coach, he is determined to revive the good culture of the time.
In a recent phone call with Newsis, Park Min-woo said, “What I saw and learned was the director’s leadership. “Even if I can’t keep up with the director, I’m thinking of trying to follow what I’ve seen and learned as much as possible,” he said.
Park Min-woo, who joined NC in 2012 and has played for only one team, took on the captain’s armband in early July this year when Son Ah-seop, the previous captain, suffered a knee injury. It has been five years since he took over as captain in 2019 due to a season-ending injury to Na Seong-beom (currently KIA Tigers).
Although the important responsibility I was given in the middle of the season did not feel heavy, I suffered quite a bit due to the departure of many veteran players due to injuries.
Park Min-woo said, “I have played for this team the longest, and my juniors follow me well. “I played a similar role even when I wasn’t the captain, so I didn’t feel the weight of the armband when I took on the captaincy,” he said. “But at the time, it was difficult because I didn’t have many seniors and colleagues with whom I could share opinions.”
At the same time, he looked back and said, “I think I carried out my role as captain while seeking advice from my older brothers and coaches who were in the entry team.”
Coach Lee, who took the helm of NC after completing the 2024 season, entrusted the captaincy duties for the 2025 season to Park Min-woo.
The relationship between the two is deep. In 2013, when Park Min-woo was in his second year as a professional, coach Lee joined the team through a free agent contract.
In the early days of NC’s founding, Coach Lee brought the players together with ‘big brother leadership’. The foundation of the team’s culture was also laid.
Park Min-woo was the closest to seeing Coach Lee lead the team as captain.
Coach Lee, who retired from active duty at the end of the 2017 season, worked as an NC hitting coach from 2018 to 2021 and continued his relationship with Park Min-woo.
As Manager Lee, who worked as a coach at the LG Twins from 2022 to 2024, returned to the leadership position, the two met again as managers and captains.
Park Min-woo said, “The senior who was the captain when I joined the team was coach Lee Ho-jun. “It is meaningful that I am now joining the coach as captain,” he said. “Literally, what I saw and learned was the coach’s leadership.”
He continued, “The coach really hated seeing me deviate from ‘one team’ during my time as captain. The direction I pursue is the same as what the director wants. “If there is a junior who harms the team, I will scold them harshly so that we can move in the same direction,” he emphasized.
Park Min-woo also added, “With a blank slate, I want to revive the good culture that the coach created during his time as captain.”
Unlike last year, I feel a bit of pressure.
Park Min-woo said, “I worked with the coach as a player, and we also had a relationship as a coach and player. “There are high expectations for me as a director, but I also feel pressure because they think I will do well.”
Park Min-woo, who dreams of being a ‘one team member,’ does not look at individual performance.
Park Min-woo performed well as the team’s main hitter this year with a batting average of 0.328, 8 home runs, 50 RBIs, 32 stolen bases, 75 runs, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.852, but he did not attach much importance to it.
He said, “Individual performance is important, but I was not happy because the team performance was not good. “In the past, I was greedy about individual performance, but after signing as a free agent, I feel that team performance is more important,” he said.
Meaning was only given to those who stole more than 30 bases. “I feel fun and joy when I steal a base. In recent years, there have been plenty of situations where he could have recorded more than 30 stolen bases, but he couldn’t. “I have a desire to consistently steal more than 30 bases, so I am only satisfied with this record,” he explained.
Park Min-woo plans to leave for spring training in Arizona, USA, immediately after the New Year’s party held on the 3rd of next month.
I start training early with the determination to play in the last game of the season, the Korean Series.
Park Min-woo said, “It would be good to have good individual results, but baseball is a team sport, not an individual sport. “I don’t think about personal performance other than stealing more bases than I did this year,” he said. “As a player, my goal is to win.” “Fans are looking forward to fall baseball, but the players’ goal is to play in the last game of the season,” he said.
[서울=뉴시스]