Why on earth did KT, with Kang Baek-ho, bring in a 31-year-old designated hitter who was notified by the two teams of 'out-of-power' due to his inability to defend
Why on earth did KT, with Kang Baek-ho, bring in a 31-year-old designated hitter who was notified by the two teams of 'out-of-power' due to his inability to defend
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KT Wiz and Lotte Giants, which are fiercely competing for the top ranks, have traded the resources they need one-on-one. However, attention is focusing on KT's choice of bringing in Junghoon Lee (31), an outfielder who was virtually informed by the two teams not to play due to its increasing defense.바카라사이트
The KT club said on the 2nd, "We sent pitcher Park Se-jin (28) to Lotte and made a one-on-one trade to recruit outfielder Junghoon Lee."
This is the result of the match between KT, which needed reinforcement of firepower due to a series of injuries to hitters, and Lotte, which desperately needed bullpen pitchers. KT, which has already been struggling with poor batting this season, recently lost all of its main hitters in the team, Kang Baek-ho (26) and Hwang Jae-gyun (38), to injuries. Even with them, KT's team batting average was at the bottom of the league with 0.246 (8th in the league) and 0.685 (8th in the OPS), but Kang Baek-ho was found at least eight weeks due to a torn ligament in his right ankle on May 27 and Hwang Jae-gyun was found at least six weeks due to a left hamstring injury (Grade 2) on May 29, confirming his out in the first half.
This is why he urgently transfused Lee Junghoon Lee, who was judged to be too poor to defend in the first team. After graduating from Gyomun Elementary School, Bae Jae-joong, Hwimungo, and Kyunghee University, Junghoon Lee of right-handedness joined the KIA Tigers as a catcher in the 94th position in the 10th round of the second round of the KBO Rookie Draft in 2017. During his time at KIA, Junghoon Lee had only 183 at-bats in 61 games in the first division due to his poor catcher's defense despite his consistent batting average in the Futures League.
After the end of the 2022 season, Lotte was notified that he was not active enough, and Lotte snatched him who became free. Lotte, which lacked the batting lineup at the time, sought to become an outfielder in order to save Junghoon Lee's shoulders and utilize him in the first division at least a little. As a result, Lotte had an opportunity to play in 124 games for the first division, and posted a batting average of 0.298 (75 hits in 252 times at bat), one homer, 35 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.733. However, in the end, the defense ended up dragging its feet again.
While Victor Reyes, a foreign hitter who joined last year, won a spot in the outfield with his All-Star-class performance, Captain Jeon Joon-woo (39), national outfielder Yoon Dong-hee (22), and "Ma Huang" Hwang Seong-bin (28) had no time to step in the outfield. Under such circumstances, there was no room for Junghoon Lee, which did not improve its defense capabilities. This is why Junghoon Lee has never been in the first division despite its 19 Futures games batting average of 0.357 (10 hits in 28 at-bats) with three home runs and eight RBIs, OPS of 1.286 and career Futures batting average of 0.319 (446 hits in 1399 at-bats) with 37 home runs and OPS of 0.878.
In contrast, the situation is different for KT. KT's outfield is also home to long-time outfielder Mel Rojas Jr. (35), super rookie Ahn Hyun-min (22), and existing outfielders Bae Jeong-dae (30) and Kim Min-hyuk (30), but the departure of Kang Baek-ho and Hwang Jae-gyun has helped the designated hitter position. With no players to seamlessly connect the lineup in front of Ahn and Rojas Jr., joining Junghoon Lee, who has advantages in contacting, is sufficient to revitalize the team. "Junghoon Lee is a left-handed hitter with strong batting skills, and was acquired through trade to strengthen the team's offense," KT's general manager Na Do-hyun also explained.
In addition, the pitching staff was relatively relaxed compared to the batters they had to rely on. Although Son Dong-hyun (24), a must-winner, was recently removed from the first division entry on April 26 due to a ruptured right shoulder muscle (shoulder muscle), Sovereignty and Moon Yong-ik are on standby.
It was Park Se-jin who faced a similar situation to Junghoon Lee at KT. After graduating from Bonri Elementary School, Kyungwoon Middle School, and Gyeongbuk High School, Park Se-jin joined KT as the first designated KBO Rookie Draft in 2016. A left-hander with a physique of 178 centimeters and 93 kilograms, he played in 42 games in six seasons of the first team, marking 1 win, 10 losses, 1 hold, 7.99 ERA, and 52 strikeouts in 80 innings. Although he did not play in the first team this season, he had 1 win, 1 loss, 4 holds, 2 saves, an ERA of 3.04 and 24 strikeouts in 23 ⅔ innings in 22 games in the Futures League.
His performance in the Futures League itself was not bad, but he was not selected in the first team because he was not good enough to take full control of one inning after switching to the bullpen. However, as time passed, he improved in his game management ability and was caught in the eyes of Lotte, which needed a young experienced bullpen pitcher. Lotte, which is competing for the lead due to its hot batting this season, needed a full-strength pitcher with an ERA of 4.90 (ranking eighth in the league) and 216 ⅔ innings (ranked fourth).
"Park Se-jin has shown good game management ability over the past three years and has shown potential as a left-hander bullpen pitcher," Lotte said, explaining the reason for the trade, "We expect to strengthen the team's power in the future by thickening the left-hander's player base."