Park Joo-hong (24) of the Kiwoom Heroes hit his first home run in his debut.

On the 5th, Park Joo-hong started as the No. 7 right fielder in the game against NC Dinos in the '2025 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League' held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, recording 1 hit out of 3 at-bats, 1 home run, 3 RBIs, 1 run, and 1 walk.

In the bottom of the 2nd inning, with no outs and runners on first and second, Park Joo-hong entered his first at-bat and hit a three-run home run off right-handed starter Riley Thompson's fastball, clocked at 152 km/h, over the right center field wall. The home run traveled 125 meters. It was Park Joo-hong's first home run since debuting six years ago.

Park Joo-hong, who joined Kiwoom as the first overall pick in the 2020 rookie draft, was expected to be a promising power hitter. However, he had not shown the expected performance in the professional league. Up until the day of the game, he had not hit a single home run in the first team. In the Futures League, he managed to hit only 20 home runs over five years.

However, after hitting his first home run in the first team during this year's exhibition games, Park Joo-hong finally succeeded in hitting his debut home run in a regular season game. In an interview on the 6th, he reflected on the moment he hit the home run, saying, "It was great to hit a home run in the exhibition games, but this felt even better. I felt more relief than joy, thinking, 'Finally, I did it.'"

"The moment the ball hit the bat, I thought, 'Oh, it came,' so I watched the ball a little," said Park Joo-hong, adding, "While running, I could only think, 'Finally, I did it.' Then I thought, 'I hope I can hit more now. Since I hit one, I might hit two or three.'"

In his KBO League career, Park Joo-hong has recorded a batting average of .150 (39 hits out of 244 at-bats), 1 home run, 14 RBIs, 21 runs, and 5 stolen bases with an OPS of .484. He stated, "I thought the reason I hadn't hit any home runs was that the ball wasn’t making contact with the bat. Now that I've started hitting one or two, I think the results will follow naturally. I believe that if I continue in the same direction, there will be much better results than before."

"I have spent a lot of time in the second team," Park Joo-hong said. "There were times when things went well and times when they didn’t in the second team, so I went through some mental struggles. The hitting coach helped me a lot both technically and mentally in the second team, allowing me to endure well. He gave me confidence that I could keep looking up and continue playing baseball."

Making a change this year, Park Joo-hong focused on keeping his feet planted on the ground and concentrating on making contact with the ball. He explained, "Planting my feet and making contact is the main focus. It’s about making plays in the field. I’ve been working hard to create more balls in play. Thanks to that, the frequency of balls in play has definitely increased compared to before. I believe the probability of making balls in play has improved a lot since the winter and the exhibition games. It’s not perfect yet; I still need to pay close attention to it and work harder."

Having finally completed his long-awaited first objective by hitting his first home run, Park Joo-hong remarked, "Now that I’ve hit one home run, my goal is to consistently show good form and stay in the first team for a long time this season."

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