“All you need to do is play well. All you need to do is play well...”

The new home of the Hanwha Eagles, Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon, is finally making its debut through an exhibition game. Built with a total project cost of 207.4 billion won (150 million won in government funds, 143.8 billion won in local government funds, 48.6 billion won from Hanwha), Hanwha Life Ball Park spans 58,405.56 square meters, with two basement levels and four above-ground levels, and features state-of-the-art facilities that rival Major League Baseball stadiums, as the Hanwha club is conducting interior construction in preparation for the home opener. On this day, the exhibition game will only open the first floor, allowing 11,000 spectators to enter. All 11,000 tickets were sold out early due to pre-sales.

After welcoming fans at the opening ceremony on the 5th, the Hanwha team had their first practice game on the 6th, and following additional construction completion, they will hold their first official game against the Samsung Lions in an exhibition game on the 17th. The final two exhibition matchups will be held until the 18th, with the regular season opener against the KIA Tigers scheduled for the 28th.

Though it is an exhibition game, media attention was focused on the official first game at Hanwha Life Ball Park. Hanwha manager Kim Kyung-moon smiled at the sight of numerous journalists and said, “It feels like we are in the playoffs,” then added, “The ground conditions at the new stadium are really good. It’s nice. There’s no need to be overly concerned about the 8-meter high Monster Wall. During today’s practice, Hyun-bin (Moon) cleared it, and since a few balls were hit well, it went over. As this is our home field, we need to practice a lot and take advantage of it as much as possible.

Expressing satisfaction with the new stadium, Manager Kim repeated the phrase, “All you need to do is play well.”

In the exhibition games, Hanwha has recorded four wins and two losses, including one tie after opening with two straight losses, placing them in a tie for second. Notably, the new foreign pitcher Kodi Ponsae has been impressive, throwing fastballs reaching a maximum speed of 155 km/h and mixing in various off-speed pitches like changeups, curves, and sliders. Over two games, he has pitched nine innings, allowed three hits, four walks, one hit by pitch, struck out ten, and has yet to give up a run.

Manager Kim, keeping a humble perspective despite being in an exhibition game, noted, “When foreign players perform well, the team gains strength. It gives energy. Not just Ponsae, but Ryan Weiss is also good. We also have Hyun-jin (Ryu), and the pitchers should be more stable than last year. The pitchers are looking good.”

There’s work remaining to finalize the 28-man opening day roster in the remaining exhibition games. Competition is fierce among pitchers, and the competition for the final positions among the position players is ongoing. Manager Kim stated, “It’s a crucial time to decide on one to three players, at most three. Initially, any team will have their starters come in late (3-5), so the position players tend to come in more. Following that, as we call in the starters one by one, some will drop out. Each game will be very important for the players.”

The exhibition games will conclude with the match against Samsung on the 18th. With two games remaining, Manager Kim expressed, “I hope we hit better, like the past description of Hanwha's ‘Dynamite offense.’ All managers wish for their hitters to perform well; that makes the dugout more comfortable.” He added, “I hope we perform a bit more aggressively. Tomorrow is the last game, so I hope the hitters find their rhythm and that we finish the exhibition games without injuries.

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