Ruben Cardines (28) of the Kiwoom Heroes will face his former team, the Samsung Lions, starting from the season opener.
Kiwoom will play against the Samsung Lions in the '2025 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League' 2025 season opener at Daegu Samsung Lions Park on the 22nd. The starting pitcher for Kiwoom is Kenny Rosenberg, while Ariel Hurado will be the starting pitcher for Samsung.
The opening game between Kiwoom and Samsung draws attention as foreign players face off against their former teams. Kiwoom will have Ruben Cardines, who played for Samsung, while Samsung's starting pitcher will be Hurado, who played for Kiwoom.
Hurado is a right-handed pitcher who has recorded 21 wins and 16 losses with an earned run average of 3.01 over 60 games (374 innings) in the KBO League. He shone as the ace for Kiwoom over the past two seasons, but after the last season, he did not re-sign and has now joined Samsung under a $1 million (approximately 1.5 billion won) contract. Meeting his former team starting from the opening game, Hurado said in a February interview, "I have had experiences where I had to face players I played with before. I think it happens in baseball all the time," indicating he is not overly concerned.
Cardines joined Samsung last season as a substitute foreign player for David McKinnon. However, he had to leave the team shortly after, having hit .333 (8 hits in 24 at-bats) with 2 home runs, 5 RBIs, and 2 runs scored while dealing with injuries in 7 games, which sparked controversy over poor effort.
Now that Cardines must meet Daegu Samsung fans as an opponent, he explained, "I just want to do my job. There was a misunderstanding last year, and I do not feel a strong need to prove that I can do better this year. I have no resentment about what happened at Samsung. I have no bad memories or anything like that about them. It’s in the past, and I just want to turn the page and move on to this year.
Kiwoom manager Hong Won-ki also noted in an interview on the 18th, "(Cardines) can prove himself. He is healthy, and there was a misunderstanding at the time that he did not intend. He also said he is not overly concerned about it. Eventually, it is something that he will have to experience someday, and it will pass. I hope he doesn’t worry too much. I don't know what the fans will think, but I trust Cardines' sincerity."
Regarding meeting Hurado, whom he played with for two years, starting from the opening game, manager Hong Won-ki said, "I met Jesus (KT) during the exhibition games, too. As the season goes on, we will have to meet again, and we will have to compete fairly. I hope the players don't think too much about such issues. Hurado won’t throw harder just because he is facing us. It’s just one game, and I believe we can just treat it as a game in the season and compete."
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