Could the professional baseball LG Twins catch up to the first-place Hanwha Eagles? Manager Youm Kyoung-youb declared that “we will play aggressively” as they reached the 72-game mark.
Starting pitchers Son Ju-yeong and Im Chan-kyu will have had over ten days of rest, allowing the starting rotation to return to normal. The bullpen has seen the return of Yoo Yeong-chan, Jang Hyun-sik, and Lee Jeong-yong, enabling consecutive pitching from now on.
The key issue is the batting lineup. In June, LG's team batting average is .264 with an OPS of .706, ranking 8th overall. The underperformance of key batters is becoming evident.
Austin, Moon Bo-gyeong, and Park Dong-won are among the top five in home runs. Austin has 19 home runs (2nd) and 52 RBIs, Moon Bo-gyeong has 13 home runs and 53 RBIs, and Park Dong-won has 13 home runs and 40 RBIs, leading the LG batting lineup. They once held the top three spots in OPS.
Since the game against Kiwoom on the 7th until the game against NC on the 19th, LG recorded 4 wins, 1 draw, and 5 losses in their last 10 games. During this period, cleanup hitter Moon Bo-gyeong has a batting average of .061 (2 hits in 33 at-bats), with 1 home run, 8 walks, and 9 RBIs, achieving a .379 OPS. On the 18th against NC, he set a record as the first in KBO history for ‘four RBIs without a hit’. In all five at-bats, there were scoring opportunities with runners on third base, but he failed to deliver a single hit.
Austin recorded a batting average of .129 (4 hits in 31 at-bats), 1 home run, 6 walks, and 3 RBIs with a .496 OPS, while Park Dong-won had a batting average of .095 (2 hits in 21 at-bats), 0 home runs, 3 walks, and 3 RBIs with a .343 OPS. The combined batting average of the three key batters in the last ten games is only .094 (8 hits in 85 at-bats).
Manager Youm said, “I always emphasize that the starters must approach their at-bats with the same mindset for 500 plate appearances. I used Bo-gyeong as an example. Just because things aren’t going well, we can’t just ask him to lay down a bunt or slide; that’s not how baseball works. Bo-gyeong is also in a stage of growth, so even during his struggles, I have kept him in the lineup. All of this is part of the experience, and ultimately it can reduce the figures of slumps. He needs to feel something while going hitless. He must clearly understand what preparations he needs to make to overcome challenges to grow and reduce fluctuations.”
In the last ten games, LG hitters included leadoff hitter Shin Min-jae with a batting average of .436 (17 hits in 39 at-bats), and 9th hitter Park Hae-min with a batting average of .367 (11 hits in 30 at-bats). The 2nd hitter, Kim Hyun-soo, also recorded a batting average of .270 (10 hits in 37 at-bats), with 2 home runs and 9 RBIs, creating good opportunities in the 1st, 2nd, and 9th spots. However, they have not been able to capitalize in the 3rd to 5th spots.
Manager Youm noted, “Hae-min and Min-jae are improving, and the 3rd, 4th, and 5th spots need to be solid, but when Hae-min and Min-jae perform well, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th spots should have supported them better, or we would have won more. If they had just done a little more, we could have widened the gap; that’s baseball.”
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