Hong Chang-ki, 31, who helped LG win the Korean Series for the first time in 29 years, earned the biggest payday of any non-free agent player on the team.
LG announced the completion of annual contracts with 33 players who will be re-signed in 2024. Outfielder Hong Chang-ki, who earned 300 million won last year, signed a contract for 510 million won, an increase of 210 million won, a 70.0 percent increase.
Hong, who earned 38 million won in 2020, quickly surpassed the 100 million won mark in 2021. He led the league in on-base percentage (.456) and won the Golden Glove for outfielders that year, and in 2022, he became the highest-paid non-free agent on the team with a $220 million increase to $320 million.
In 2022, he took a break for the first time since becoming a starter in the aftermath of a back injury. He didn’t do too badly, batting .285 (125-for-437) with one home run, 51 RBIs and a 3.9 OPS in 118 games, but his 2023 salary was cut to 300 million won.
Last year, however, he bounced back in a big way. In 141 games 안전놀이터 (524 at-bats, 174 hits), he batted .303 with one home run, 65 RBIs, 88 walks, and 83 strikeouts for a 4.4 OPS, making him the best No. 1 hitter in the league. He led the league in slugging percentage and runs scored (109), earning his second Golden Glove.
Along with LG’s overall victory, Hong was also rewarded with a hefty salary.
He quickly surpassed the 400 million won mark and hit the 500 million won mark. He regained the title of LG’s highest non-free agent salary after losing it to Ko Woo-seok (430 million won) last year.
The highest single-year salary in the KBO, excluding free agents, multi-year contracts, and players returning from overseas, is Lee Jung-hoo (San Francisco). This year, he earned a record-breaking 1.1 billion won in his seventh year with Kiwoom, befitting the previous year’s MVP. It was also the first single-year salary in the 1 billion won range, surpassing Kim Kwang-hyun’s (SSG) salary of 850 million won in 2016.
If Hong continues his current pace this year and next, he will be the second player to surpass the 1 billion won mark. Hong has four seasons of first-team free agency under his belt and three more seasons to go before he becomes a college graduate free agent.
He will be eligible for free agency for the first time after the 2026 season.
He could sign a non-free agent multi-year deal in the meantime, but he still has three years of service time left, so there’s no need for LG to rush him. If he does sign a contract, he could make up to 1 billion won in 2026, based on his current upside.
Hong Chang-ki, who joined the team in 2016 after graduating from Konkuk University, is a college-educated player who also did military service with the National Police Agency. He became a first-team player at the rather late age of 27 in 2020, and it took him a while to establish himself. However, after four years as a starter, he became a league-leading run-scoring machine, and his salary rose vertically to 500 million won.
Meanwhile, LG received the highest raise in the team (174.2%) for pitcher Yoo Young-chan, 파워볼사이트 추천 who was a key member of the bullpen last year, from 31 million won to 85 million won. Shin Min-jae, who made a surprise jump to second base, went from 48 million won to 115 million won. Outfielder Moon Sung-joo also jumped from 95 million won to 200 million won, surpassing the 100 million won mark. Pitcher Choi Won-tae also saw his salary rise from 350 million won to 400 million won, although he struggled a bit after moving to LG. The entire squad was able to capitalize on the championship premium.
