“Next year, I will definitely focus on my grades.”
KT Wiz manager Lee Kang-chul announced his plans for the offseason team’s preparation and goals for next season, along with his determination to participate in the “2025 Taoyuan Asian Professional Baseball Exchange” held in Taiwan.
KT Wiz, a professional baseball team led by head coach Lee Kang-chul, will represent Korea in the “2025 Taoyuan Asian Professional Baseball Exchange.” KT will hold an exchange game with the Rakuten Monkeys of the Taiwan Professional Baseball (CPBL) and the Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) at the invitation of Taoyuan City.
사진 확대 Photo = Courtesy of KT Wiz
In the 2025 professional baseball regular season, he had a good winning rate of 0.511 (71 wins, 5 draws and 68 losses), but unfortunately failed to advance to the postseason by ranking sixth. Therefore, KT is having a busier winter.
After the team’s training at Rakuten Taoyuan Baseball Stadium in Taiwan, where the exchange match will be held on the 6th, head coach Lee Kang-chul said, “I’ve been thinking a lot about it because I’ve been going into fall baseball,” and vowed, “I’ll focus on my performance next year and meet my fans’ expectations.”
Although they competed fiercely for the ranking until the end of the season, they finished the 2025 season in sixth place behind the NC Dinos, who have won nine consecutive games. Looking back on the 2025 season, coach Lee said, “We can’t help it last season anyway. Unfortunately, I’m thinking positively about getting rid of it and having time to recharge, he said. “I think young players need to take a break, and I think they gave me a time like that. It was not easy to break the mold as my grades continued to improve. “I’ve been paying close attention, but now that I’ve fallen once, I think it’s time to think about many things,” he said, adding that he is using this year as an opportunity for blessing in disguise.
We are planning a hopeful next year season with young players. Coach Lee said, “I’m watching a lot from the bottom, starting with the finishing training team, and I think the new rookies are better than I thought,” adding, “The players who came here (for the Taiwan exchange match) seem to be good overall.” There are four newcomers. There’s a pitcher here, but he looks very good. I think there are one or two players (who can use it next year),” he said, expressing satisfaction with the rookie players in particular.
사진 확대 Photo = Courtesy of KT Wiz
Taoyuan City invited three clubs to promote baseball culture exchange and sports tourism between Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. The exchange game will be held at Rakuten Taoyuan Baseball Stadium for three days from the 7th. KT will be able to play against professional teams from Taiwan and Japan, which have recently become fierce Asian baseball rivals in the offseason. He will face the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan on the 7th and the Rakuten Monkeys of Taiwan on the 9th.
Coach Lee said, “It’s good to be able to do an interim inspection at this time (exchange match). I wanted to see him play the game more than during practice, but I think I’m glad that the competition was made here,” he said. “If you practice too much, it can be boring, but there’s something you can check through real life. Pitchers don’t know only with bullpens. “I’ll see some things here, wrap up the rest of the 10 days well and make a camp list for next year,” he explained.
The mound, which was KT’s pride this season, especially bullpen pitchers among them, suffered. The performance of must-win teams such as Son Dong-hyun and Won Sang-hyun is also an important variable next season. Manager Lee said, “My pitching has improved now. (Son) Dong-hyun is also better, so I’m going to check it out. And next year, we have to make one or two new people, and that’s the most important thing,” he said. “There’s no fielder. The pitcher needs to be reinforced in the middle. I hope there will be about two new people. In terms of spraying powerful balls, I think Park Ji-hoon (a rookie of the first round of KT in 2026) will be a card,” he said, expressing expectations.
사진 확대 Photo = Courtesy of KT Wiz
Since achieving its first history of unified wins in 2021, fans have given a lot of support to KT’s persistent baseball, miracle baseball, and also the “steel magic” led by head coach Lee. Coach Lee also said of the 2026 season, “We have to take on the challenge next year. We will focus on grades unconditionally,” he said, expressing his determination to produce good results again.
Some even cite the sluggishness of KT’s foreign players in the 2025 season as the cause of the PS failure. However, director Lee said, “It’s all an excuse. In the meantime, we have been consistently good at one or two foreign players. It was thanks to the three Korean starters that were able to last a long time. “We were able to endure well because the three players held up well,” he said, “If we pick a good player and go, I think we will be able to perform well again.” He repeatedly expressed hopeful expectations for the 26th season.
[Kim Wonik, MK Sports Reporter]