If I hadn’t invested 15.2 billion won last winter, I would have spent another year like a disaster. Of course, that doesn’t mean things are good right now. In the current atmosphere, it is only a matter of time before the 50% odds ratio collapsed.안전놀이터
Doosan put a lot of effort into reorganizing the batting line ahead of this season. It started with the recruitment of Yang Eui-ji, the largest free agent catcher, for 15.2 billion won in 4+2 years, the best treatment ever. From 2019 to last year, Eui-ji Yang played an active role as the immovable number 4 hitter with a batting average of 30%, 30 homers and 100 RBIs every year at the NC Dinos. Yang Eui-ji’s individual ability is a plus to Doosan, but I had great expectations for the synergy effect when the existing central batters Kim Jae-hwan and Yang Seok-hwan were together.
The leaders also worked hard with people who had a good understanding of the batting map. Starting with appointing “national hitter” Lee Seung-yeop as head coach, Kim Han-soo as head coach and Koji Goto as batting coach were recruited. Head coach Kim is the person who built the Samsung Lions’ strong hitting line during the dynasty, and Coach Goto also worked with Doosan’s golden age as a hitting coach in the 2018 season, and the trust he built with the players was strong. During the finishing camp in October of last year, Lee Jung-hoon, coach of the 2nd team, worked hard to foster a promising hitter. It was because it was obvious that if a new face did not appear to revitalize the existing main lineup, they would not be able to escape the nightmare of last year when they finished in ninth place.
Now, a little more than two months have passed since the opening. The situation of Doosan’s lineup is worse than expected. It is a natural result since Yang Eui-ji is the only hitter paying for the meal. Yang Eui-ji ranks fifth in the league with a batting average of 0.321 (60 hits in 187 at-bats) for the season. He is the only hitter on the team to finish in the top 30 at bat.
Doosan is the only team out of 10 clubs that has only one hitter in the top 30. Even Samsung and Hanwha, which currently have lower team batting averages than Doosan, have four and two players, respectively, in the top 30 in batting average. If Doosan had not recruited Yang Eui-ji for 15.2 billion won ahead of this season, Doosan hitters in the top 30 might have been wiped out.
The main hitters who should share the burden of Yang Eui-ji are not empowering at all. Kim Jae-hwan is the 4th hitter who received a large sum of 11.5 billion won for 4 years from Doosan ahead of the 2022 season, but since May, he has moved to various batting order from 5th to 8th. That’s because he doesn’t have a good sense of hitting. He is last among the five batters who have filled regulation at bats on the team with a batting average of 0.261 (49 hits in 188 at-bats) for the season. In the last two games, he came out as the second hitter for the reason of changing the atmosphere, and achieved his goal by recording 4 hits in 8 at-bats. However, it is difficult to keep Kim Jae-hwan at number 2. Eui-ji Yang, who has entered his late 30s, cannot continue to work as the main catcher and 4th hitter, so Kim Jae-hwan must share the burden.
Yang Seok-hwan ran a good pace, hitting 6 home runs until April, but has been quiet since May. Entering June, he had only four RBIs in 15 games. His batting average has dropped to 0.200 in his last 10 games. Sue-bin Su (0.276) and Gyeong-min Heo (0.270) are players who usually put more weight on defense, but Kyung-min Heo has a batting average of 10% in the last 10 games, causing concern.
The biggest problem is Jose Rojas, a foreign batter who is not currently in the first team. He is spending time realigning in the second team after posting a batting average of .205 (32-for-156), 10 homers, and 26 RBIs in 49 games. It has the power to jump over the fence once caught, but the contact ability was so low that it needed to be adjusted. If Rojas doesn’t change even after the reorganization of the 2nd group, the situation becomes a little more bleak.
As serious as the sluggishness of the main hitters is the disappearance of hwasubun baseball. Calmly, it is difficult for key hitters now in their mid-30s to lead an entire season, and to ease their physical burden, young players in their 20s must boost the team atmosphere with crazy performances.
The opportunity itself went to countless players. Director Lee urged the young beasts to exert themselves with the word ‘infinite competition’. Infielders Lee Yoo-chan (55 games) Kang Seung-ho (45 games) Park Gye-beom (31 games) Ahn Jae-seok (20 games) Kim Min-hyeok (16 games), outfielders Jo Su-haeng (52 games) Yang Chan-yeol (33 games) Song Seung-hwan (29 games) Kim Dae-han (15 games) Gyeonggi) Hong Seong-ho (8 games) was called up. There are players who have shown brilliant performances, but there is no player who has calmly won the main title here. Ahn Jae-seok and outfielder Kim In-tae could not fully display their skills due to injuries.
Lee Yu-chan, who got the most chances to start, often faltered in his offense and defense as his stamina deteriorated in his first full-time season. It is encouraging if it is encouraging that Park Gye-beom and Kang Seung-ho, who have full-time experience, have recently found their pace, but it is still difficult to guarantee that these two will shine until the end of the season.
Because of the circumstances of the other line, recently, if they do not get sick, they are sending out players with the best hitting feel for each position, but it is a headache to have a problem with the defense every time.
During the golden age, there was a clear starting lineup of Hur Kyung-min, Kim Jae-ho, Oh Jae-won, and Oh Jae-il in the infield, and Kim Jae-hwan, Jeong Soo-bin, and Park Kun-woo in the outfield. But not now. Both last year and this year, the shortstop is Muju Gongsan, and the second baseman and right fielder do not have owners yet. A sense of defensive stability runs through the lineup that changes from time to time, and it is not uncommon for a series of mistakes to come out when one mistake is made. However, there is no player who can forcefully make a starting player. This is the reason why Doosan is unstable in every game while maintaining a 50% win rate and 5th place with 30 wins, 30 losses and 1 draw. Even with a 50% win rate, there is a positive will, so we can endure at least.