The NC Dinos, who are on a four-game losing streak in professional baseball, have promoted left-handed power-hitting prospect Oh Young-soo (25), who is batting over .400 in the Futures League, to the first team. He will be starting as a designated hitter right away.
NC presented its lineup against Hanwha in Changwon on the 31st with Han Seok-hyun (left fielder), Kim Joo-won (shortstop), Park Min-woo (second baseman), Matt Davidson (first baseman), Park Gun-woo (right fielder), Oh Young-soo (designated hitter), Kim Hwi-jip (third baseman), Chun Jae-hwan (center fielder), and Ahn Jung-yeol (catcher). The starting pitcher will be Kim Nok-won.
Outfielder Kim Sung-wook was removed from the first team roster, leading to infielder Oh Young-soo's registration. Facing Hanwha's sidearm starting pitcher Eom Sang-baek, left-handed hitter Oh Young-soo seizes the opportunity for a start with his call-up to the first team. This marks his registration 36 days after being removed from the first team roster on the 25th of last month.
Although he struggled in the first team this year with a batting average of .200 (5 hits in 25 at-bats), 1 home run, and 4 RBIs in 9 games, he excelled in the Futures League with a batting average of .490 (22 hits in 54 at-bats), 5 home runs, 22 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.326 over 19 games.
Regarding Oh Young-soo, NC manager Lee Ho-jun said, "Oh Young-soo has been hitting well in the C team (Futures), and I was waiting for the right timing to bring him up," and noted, "He is a player with potential, but it’s unfortunate that he has been going back and forth between the first and second teams. He is a player who should be in our core lineup, although some players bloom a little late. He is one of those late bloomers."
As Oh Young-soo starts as the designated hitter, Matt Davidson returns to first base for the first time since recovering from a hamstring injury. Key hitter Kwon Hee-dong has been excluded from the starting lineup for rest and is preparing to come in as a substitute.
On this day, NC's starting pitcher is the fourth-year right-hander Kim Nok-won. Manager Lee Ho-jun stated, "There is no set pitch count. If he’s doing well, he will keep going. Our middle relief pitchers are all ready, so we might move quickly depending on the situation."
Meanwhile, the starting pitcher for the last game of the series on the 1st of next month will be fourth-year right-hander Lee Jun-hyuk as a substitute starter. He has shown promise with 1 loss and an earned run average of 3.68 over 8 games (36⅔ innings) in the Futures League, marking his first opportunity to start.
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