Oh Ji-hwan of LG signed a multi-year contract for the first time in the club and hit the 10 billion won jackpot.
It’s practically the same as signing a second free agent contract, but the amount was more than three times greater than the first free agency.
On the 19th, LG announced, “We signed a multi-year contract with Oh Ji-hwan for a total of 12.4 billion won over 6 years.” He became the first shortstop in the KBO League to become a contract worth 10 billion won.
The contents of the contract are a total of 12.4 billion won (10 billion won in guarantee, 2.4 billion won in options) over the six-year contract period from 2024 to 2029. As for the guaranteed amount of 10 billion won, it was decided later on how to distribute the annual salary for the next six years.
After Oh Ji-hwan finishes this season, he will reacquire his free agent status, but LG secured him a multi-year contract before he entered the free agency market.
After the 2019 season, Oh Ji-hwan obtained his free agent qualification for the first time and started free agency negotiations with LG. At the time, rumors spread that Oh Ji-hwan’s agent demanded 10 billion won from the club for a six-year long-term contract.
LG stuck to his contract for 4 years. When unfavorable public opinion was formed on the player’s side during the negotiation process, Oh Ji-hwan virtually entrusted the club with a blank sheet and signed a contract for 4 years and 4 billion won. 메이저사이트
At that time, the free agency market was not overheated, and the number of special free agents was small, so clubs signed players with reasonable spending without overpay. After one or two years, a frenzy hit the free agency market, and the league’s top shortstop Oh Ji-hwan’s 4-year, 4 billion won contract was recognized as a ‘hyeja contract’. The club was good, but the player must have felt regret.
Until last year, Oh Ji-hwan performed outstandingly for three seasons. He hit 300 for the first time since his debut in 2020. Last year, he was very active with a batting average of 2.6 9, 25 homers, 20 stolen bases, 87 RBIs and an OPS of .827 in 142 games. He became the first shortstop to use Jamsil Stadium as his home and achieved ’20 home runs -20 stolen bases’. He won the Shortstop Golden Glove and became the best shortstop in the league.
Recently, it is a trend for clubs to secure key players in the team with multi-year contracts before becoming free agents. A long-term contract gives players a sense of psychological stability so that they can display their performance without any burden, aiming for a win-win situation.
After the last season, LG started negotiating a multi-year contract with Oh Ji-hwan. Oh Ji-hwan also had aspirations to remain as an LG one-club man, and both reached the same goal.
Oh Ji-hwan has been running the full-time season without any major injuries so far with the body of ‘Geumgang Buddha’. He also showed improvement in slugging power last year by hitting 25 home runs, the most of a personal record. Although this is the 33-year-old season, rather, his skills are increasing in his mid-30s. LG trusted Oh Ji-hwan’s stamina and skills and gave him a six-year contract until he was 39 years old.
Oh Ji-hwan was a 4 billion won contract in his first free agent, but after 4 years, he succeeded in signing a 12.4 billion won jackpot contract with a 6-year long contract that had not been achieved in the past.
