“I will absorb all the director’s thoughts.”
Jose Rojas (30), the new foreign hitter for the Doosan Bears, intends to learn home run know-how from manager Lee Seung-yeop, the “national hitter”. Coach Lee set the KBO league record for most home runs during his career with 467. Doosan batters have always said that they want to learn batting know-how since manager Lee took office, but foreign hitters were not much different. Rojas went one step further and smiled broadly, saying, “I will absorb all the director’s thoughts.”
After last season, Doosan acquired Rojas for a total of $1 million. He is the only foreign player from Doosan who signed a contract this year to exceed $1 million. Pitchers Raul Alcantara (31) and Dylan Pyle (27) signed contracts for $900,000 and $650,000, respectively. If you think of the ransom as an expectation, the expectation for LOHAS is the highest.
Coach Lee evaluated Rojas as an upgraded version of Jose Miguel Fernandez (35), who played for Doosan until the previous season. Fernandez’s contact ability was excellent enough to become the hit king for two consecutive years in 2019 (197 hits) and 2020 (199 hits), but he always had regrets about his long hitting power. Last year, he only had 6 home runs and a slugging percentage of 0.400, leading to a failure to renew his contract.
Rojas is also well aware of the expectations of the club. Rojas met at the Blacktown Baseball Stadium in Sydney, Australia on the 2nd and said, “I’m not the type to hit bunts or infield hits. My goal is always to hit the ball hard and send it far. A home run will follow then.”
When the reporters said, “The KBO league official ball will not go farther than expected,” Rojas smiled and replied, “Angels in the sky will put wings on (the ball).”
He is integrating well into the new team. Doosan players gave their thumbs up, saying that Rojas was kind and active. Kim Jae-hwan (35), who trains together in the outfield, said, “I have a good personality, so when players joke around to get along with me, I really accept it.” He added, “I think he resembles Jose Altuve (33, Houston Astros).”
Rojas said, “It was nice that all the team members welcomed me. Especially, the veterans who train with me in the outfield are curious about me, and I am also curious about the seniors. I want to learn a lot from the seniors and learn a lot about the culture. I like it,” he said. 메이저사이트
Regarding the opinion that he resembles Altube, he replied, “It’s the first time I’ve heard of it, but if I say resemblance, wouldn’t it be resemblance?” and laughed out loud.
Rojas can defend both the infield and the outfield, but he is training mainly as a right fielder this spring camp. The right fielder is a position that has not been filled since Park Gun-woo (33, NC Dinos) moved to free agency ahead of last season. Rojas drew attention with his active attitude, including diving catches during defensive training.
Rojas said, “I’m confident in the position that gets the most hits when I play. I’m comfortable with all positions, but right now I’m concentrating on right field.”
The ultimate goal is to win the team. He is friends with SSG Landers foreign hitter Juan Lagares (34), and he told Rojas that he won the combined championship last year and even taught Korean baseball culture.
Rojas said, “My goal has been to win the championship throughout my career. That’s why I play baseball.”