KIA Tigers captain Na Sung-beom expressed his desire to conquer the iconic 30 home runs-100 RBIs of "strong hitter" once again.먹튀검증
KIA, the champion of the 2024 KBO League, has been holding its first spring camp at Irvine in Orange County, California since April 25 (local time). The team plans to boost its pace by conducting intensive training sessions through April 17.
Na Sung-bum, Kia's captain, is gearing up for the 2025 season with strong spirit of winning the combined championship last year. As the captain and center hitter, he is committed to display better performance than the previous three years by taking responsibility.
After training on the morning of the 7th, Na Sung-bum said, "I'm not 100% fit yet, but I'm raising my pace by taking a lot of training," adding, "My body is doing well as I planned before coming to the United States."
After the end of the 2021 season, Na Sung-bum became the first free agent (FA) in his career and exercised his rights. After much thought, he left the NC Dinos and joined Kia Tigers from his hometown team under the terms of a six-year contract period, a total of 15 billion won.
Na played in all 144 pennant races in the 2022 season, hitting hard with a batting average of 0.320 (180 hits in 563 times at bat) with 21 homers, 97 RBIs and an OPS of 0.910. KIA has played a decisive role in making the postseason stage for the first time in four years.
Despite playing in only 58 games due to major and minor injuries in the 2023 season, Na Sung-bum showed off his batting average of 0.365 (81 hits in 222 times at bat) with 18 home runs, 57 RBIs and an OPS of 1.098. Despite missing for nearly a month due to injury before the opening of the regular season last year, he has posted a batting average of 0.291 (109 hits in 374) with 21 home runs, 80 RBIs and an OPS of 0.868 in 102 games, and aims to perform more than that this year.
One of his goals for this year's U.S. spring camp is to participate in as many games as possible without injury in the 2025 season. Despite busy schedules during the off-season, Na has never neglected to engage in individual training.
"I started to build up my body earlier this year than usual during the off-season," Na said. "I feel okay when I come to the U.S. and train. I believe in myself and look for batting videos when I feel good, and I am trying to maintain a good balance."
KIA's batting lineup is evaluated as the strongest among the 10 teams again this year. While ranking first in the category with a team batting average of 0.301, 1,542 hits and 812 RBIs in the 2024 season, the team will seek its second consecutive win this year based on its strong offense power.
Na Sung-bum was also proud of the Tigers' teamwork. If the team continues its strong batting performance last year, it will not lag behind any other team in the 2025 season.
In the meantime, Na set his personal goal of 30 home-100 RBIs for the 2025 season. He is committed to making up for the disappointment that he has never achieved since joining the Kia Tigers this year.
When he was in NC, Na Sung-bum recorded 30 home runs-100 RBIs or more in a single season three times with 30 home runs-101 RBIs in the 2014 season, 34 home runs-112 RBIs in the 2020 season, and 33 home runs-101 RBIs in the 2021 season.
"If you're a center hitter, you want to achieve .300, 30 home runs and 100 RBIs every year. Of course, it's a really difficult record," Na said. "But I still have to try to get as close as possible. It may be difficult, but I want to achieve it again this year."