New Eagles manager says ready to look forward, build team into 'sustainable contender' in KBO

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Yonhap) -- Ryu Ji-hyun, new manager of the Hanwha Eagles, said Friday he will try to mold the club into a "sustainable contender" in South Korean baseball, a team that can stay in the hunt for a championship for years and pounce when the opportunity comes.

Ryu was formally introduced as the skipper for the Daejeon-based Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club Friday, three days after he signed a three-year deal worth 2 billion won (US$1.49 million). The 55-year-old is taking over a team coming off a ninth-place finish in the 10-team league, with just three postseason appearances in the past 20 seasons.

Ryu, who managed the South Korean national team to the quarterfinals at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March and then to the gold medal at the Asian Games in September, said he had thought all along he would be a perfect fit for the Eagles.

"As the national team manager, I had an opportunity to see a lot of KBO games closely, and I always felt a strong connection with the Hanwha Eagles and their fan base," Ryu said at his introductory press conference at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in Daejeon, some 140 kilometers south of Seoul. "I had some expectations that it would be nice to have a chance to work with Eagles players. And that was a decisive factor when the club reached out last month."

Ryu said he and the Eagles' brass shared much of the same baseball philosophy, and added he was looking forward to collaborating with the management group in building a contender.

"I absolutely do not believe that a manager alone can or should have an outsize impact on the direction of the club," Ryu said. "The manager has to work together with the rest of the organization to determine where the club should go, and I think such collaboration will translate to a good performance on the field."

Asked about his objective, Ryu said he wants the Eagles to become a consistent force in the KBO, not just a team that catches lightning in a bottle one year and fades away the next.

"Recent champions in the league are the ones that have been in the upper echelon for three to five years. They have been able to capitalize on their opportunity to go for the title when it came," Ryu said. "I think becoming a sustainable contender is really important. Honestly, I see a few holes in this team right now. But if we can address those issues, one at a time, I am confident we can build a contender. If we stay in the hunt and keep knocking on the door, then I am convinced we will have our moment."

Ryu noted that the Eagles dealt with injuries to some key players as they fell from second place last year to ninth place this year, though he declined to get into further details on what went wrong for the club.

"This season is already in the past and now is the time to move forward and get ready for the new season," Ryu said. "Our end-of-year training camp starts tomorrow, but I would prefer not to use that term. I would like to announce here that our 2027 season begins tomorrow."

Ryu, an All-Star shortstop in the 1990s for the LG Twins, said the Eagles must become a better defensive team going forward, and added he wanted to give pitchers more clearly defined roles than they had in 2026.

"From afar, I just had a vague idea that the Eagles had some young players. But after looking at the roster more closely, I realized this team is even younger than I thought," Ryu said. "It gave me confidence that this team can turn into a completely different club, depending on how well I can manage them."

Having experienced success with the national team, Ryu said he was also eager to apply lessons he learned from his previous job to his new one.

"Leading the national team was a huge challenge but also a great opportunity for me," he said. "During my time with the national team, I was able to develop ideas on how to manage high-stakes games in a short tournament. I believe my experience with the national team will have a major influence on how I manage the Eagles."

The Eagles have long been known for their fiercely loyal fans, the ones that packed their home stadium even during the club's lean years of finishing at or near the bottom of the standings. Even as the Eagles went from winning 83 games and reaching the Korean Series last year to notching just 57 wins and missing the postseason by a wide margin this year, the Eagles sold out 51 out of 71 games -- the second-highest total in the KBO -- at their 17,000-seat home stadium in 2026.

"I have always been very impressed with the fans' unwavering support for the Eagles," Ryu said. "I would like to promise our fans that I will do my best to make them feel proud whenever they cheer for the team and to send them home happy after games at our stadium."

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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