“Isn’t our situation an emergency right now?”

Hanwha Eagles manager Kim Kyung-moon described the current team batting lineup as an 'emergency situation' before the Samsung game on the 5th. With the team’s batting average struggling in the .100 range for over 10 games since the season opened, Kim Kyung-moon abandoned his ‘fixed position’ approach, countering his own beliefs.

During his time as manager of Doosan and NC, Kim fixed his starting players to one position. He encouraged players to secure their spot in one position rather than switching between multiple positions. He holds the philosophy that fixing positions will stabilize both the players and the team significantly.

After taking over at Hanwha during last year's season, Kim couldn't immediately imprint his style, but he established fixed positions from the post-season camp through this year’s spring camp. Kim Tae-yeon, who had been alternating between infield and outfield, focused on the outfield instead of the infield, while Moon Hyun-bin practiced exclusively at third base, his primary position being second base. It was expected that securing positions would lead to defensive stability.

However, baseball did not go as planned. Starting as a left fielder, Kim Tae-yeon reverted to first base mitt, and Moon Hyun-bin went to the outfield after two years. After coming in as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning of the Samsung game on the 4th, Moon Hyun-bin entered defense as a left fielder, was substituted as a center fielder on the 5th, and was named in the starting lineup as a center fielder on the 6th.

Kim noted, “Since the batting is not working out as well as expected, Hyun-bin also plays left field defense to prepare for that. It seems that he will be doing both third base and outfield. He had also played center field a couple of years ago,” adding that “Tae-yeon also goes to first base when (Ahn) Chi-hong or (Chae) Eun-sung are designated hitters. When a player participates in two positions rather than just one, there are more opportunities to play.”

Kim expressed, “I usually want players to stick to one position, but isn’t our situation an emergency right now?” He revealed that he had no choice but to use multi-position players. In order to revive the stagnant batting lineup, he must include hitters in the lineup at the expense of defensive weaknesses. While this move contradicts his longstanding principle and pre-season plans, the batting lineup's performance is too poor.

In the Samsung game on the 5th, Hanwha struggled with just one hit and one run until the seventh inning, but an eighth-inning solo home run by Moon Hyun-bin, followed by a two-run home run by Lee Jin-young, resulted in a thrilling 7-6 comeback victory with another home run by Moon Hyun-bin in the ninth. Foreign player Estevan Florial also contributed two hits, including a double, but it seemed like a temporary 'dead cat bounce.'

In the Samsung game on the 6th, Hanwha's batting lineup fell silent again. Until the eighth inning, when leadoff batter Moon Hyun-bin recorded a single to right field, the Samsung starter Denny Reyes had a perfect game. There were hardly any well-hit balls. Right after the first hit, Noh Si-hwan hit into a double play, causing the runner to disappear instantly, and the game ended with no further hits, resulting in 27 batters, 1 hit, and no runs up to the ninth inning.

Having suffered a 0-10 defeat against Samsung, Hanwha remains at 4 wins and 9 losses, unable to escape 10th place. Already four games have passed without scoring. Last year, four games without scoring took 57 games, but this year it has occurred within just 13 games. It’s not even a soccer team, and yet the no-score games account for 30.8%. With team batting average (.169), on-base percentage (.249), slugging percentage (.264), and OPS (.513) all placing them at the bottom in 10th, the team averages only 2.7 runs. The pitching staff ranks 5th in earned run average (4.61), performing at the league average, but the ineffectiveness of the batting lineup makes it difficult to win even when allowing only 3 or 4 runs.

Florial (.128), Noh Si-hwan (.163), Chae Eun-sung (.167), Sim Woo-jun (.179), and Kim Tae-yeon (.196) are all struggling hitters with batting averages below .200. Even Ahn Chi-hong (.067), who should be a key hitter, is in a slump. Although the sample size may not be large, the lack of fortune in batted balls and the severity of being at a low point in the batting cycle is alarming.

Given the nature of baseball converging towards averages, these abnormally low batting numbers are likely to rise slowly. However, considering that the best lineup has been operational without any significant injuries so far, the potential for a significant increase may be low. While Kim Kyung-moon has begun to implement a batting-enhanced lineup by abandoning fixed positions, it remains uncertain whether this will bring about a change that can alter the core of the batting lineup. Moreover, aside from Ha Joo-seok, there seems to be a lack of additional resources that can be expected from the batting side, making the situation feel even more frustrating.

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