SSG Landers home run king Choi Jung (38) has fallen into a severe batting slump in June. In 10 games in June, he has zero home runs and a batting average in the 1s. His season batting average has also dropped to the 1s. There was an incident during defensive training where he got hit by a batted ball and suffered a tear in the eyebrow area.

On the 12th, before the game against the LG Twins at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, Choi Jung was receiving fungo practice for third base defense when he was hit in the face by a batted ball due to an irregular bounce. His left eyebrow area was hit and slightly torn. He quickly moved to a hospital for examination, and fortunately, the wound was not deep, allowing him to start in the lineup.

In the situation of a batting slump, Choi Jung, who also suffered minor injuries, lacked energy with no hits in 5 at-bats and 3 strikeouts.

In the first inning, after two outs, Choi Jung hit a two-seam fastball from opposing starter Chirinus (152 km/h) but was out on a ground ball to the third baseman. In the third inning, leading 2-1, he faced a full count and struck out swinging against Chirinus' two-seam fastball (151 km/h). In the fifth inning, leading 3-2, he came to bat as a leadoff hitter but was out on a ground ball to the shortstop. He failed to make solid contact with Chirinus' two-seam fastball (151 km/h).

SSG was leading 3-2 but fell behind 3-6 in the fifth inning. In the seventh inning, with two outs and runners on first and third, Eredia's clutch hit brought them to 4-6. LG's starter, Chirinus, was replaced by Kim Jin-sung as the relief pitcher. In a two-out situation with runners on first and second, Choi Jung struck out swinging against Kim Jin-sung's forkball. In the eighth inning, trailing 4-7 with two outs and a runner on first, he once again struck out swinging.

In 24 games in May, Choi Jung had a batting average of .220, with 9 home runs, 24 RBIs, 15 walks, 4 hit by pitches, and 21 strikeouts. However, in June, over 10 games, he has 5 hits in 38 at-bats, with a batting average of .132. He has 4 walks, 2 hit by pitches, and 21 strikeouts. He has not hit any home runs and is averaging 2 strikeouts per game. Since recording 2 RBIs against Lotte on the 1st, he has not had an RBI in 9 consecutive games.

On the 7th against KT in Suwon, he recorded 1 hit in 4 at-bats, but after hitting a single in the third inning, he struck out twice. In the following 4 games, he has had 15 at-bats without a hit. He has recently fallen into a slump with 17 consecutive at-bats without a hit.

Before the game on the 12th, manager Lee Sung-yong noted about Choi Jung's recent slump, "It seems like such a thing happens about three times in a year. Every time, he has done well by employing various methods and I believe that is why we have the current Choi Jung."

He added, "After the injury, he had a good pace for a while, but now it's dropping. Yesterday, I mentioned to Jung that he needs to focus on defense. He needs to find his rhythm while playing defense. Since he hasn't always been a designated hitter, it seems he needs to train in defense to find better balance. He understands that well and should be able to play some defense by the weekend." However, on that day, an unfortunate incident occurred when he got injured during defensive fungo practice.

Choi Jung spent more than a month rehabilitating from a hamstring injury during spring training in mid-March. He returned to the first team on May 2 and hit a home run in his first at-bat in the game against LG at Jamsil. Since his return, he has hit three home runs in four games.

On May 13, he achieved the milestone of 500 career home runs with a two-run home run against NC, becoming the first in the KBO league to reach this record. Following this milestone, Choi Jung hit home runs in three consecutive games. However, in mid-May, his batting average dropped from .250 and has since continued to decline. His season batting average has now fallen to .192.

Last year, Choi Jung recorded a batting average of .291 (468 at-bats, 136 hits), 37 home runs, 107 RBIs, and 93 runs in 129 games. After finishing the season, he obtained his third free-agent (FA) eligibility and signed a four-year contract worth 11 billion won with SSG. The contract includes a signing bonus of 3 billion won and a total salary of 8 billion won, fully guaranteed at 11 billion won. Choi Jung previously exercised his free-agent rights twice, signing for 8.6 billion won over four years in 2015 and a maximum of 10.6 billion won over six years in 2019. He secured the largest contract at age 38.

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