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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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[Tainan (Taiwan) = Sports Chosun Reporter Kim Young-rok] Will Yoon Dong-hee, who was mainly in the table setter, be able to play well in the clean-up. Will Na Seung-yeop be able to play the role of a table setter based on his pioneering vision.
It was given a different role than last year. In two friendly matches with Taiwan's WBC (World Baseball Classic) national team, Lotte showed similar batting order in both games. In the absence of foreign players Barnes and Davison, the starting team of Park Se-woong and Kim Jin-wook was as expected.
But the batting order was very different. Na Seung-yeop supported leadoff Hwang Sung-bin. Son Ho-young, Reyes, Yoon Dong-hee made a clean-up, and Jeon Joon-woo, Park Seung-wook, Information Geun, and Jeon Min-jae were placed in the lower batting line. In the second game, the positions of Information Geun and Jeon Min-jae's batting order, Reyes and Jeon Jun-woo were exchanged, but the frame remained the same. It was literally a real test.
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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In theory, it is fully possible. It goes without saying that Hwang Sung-bin's presence as a leadoff. He is a traditional top hitter who has rarely been seen at Lotte, ranging from the on-base percentage, which was fourth in the team (375), to his unrivaled speed, baserunning ability, and head fight to shake the opponent's pitcher.
On top of that, Na Seung-yeop had a 411 on-base percentage last year, ranking first in the team, higher than Reyes and Yoon Dong-hee. The foot is not as fast as expected, but if it adds to the development in the future hitting, it reminds me of the so-called Major League style 'strong No. 2'. Na Seung-yeop's strong ability to pull rather than push is also an advantage when using No. 2, and Hwang Sung-bin's chances of stealing will increase as he has good pioneering skills.
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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It is not strange that Son Ho-young, who became the best hitter by ranking first in home runs (18), and Reyes, who set a record for the most hits with 202 hits in the regular season, deployed clean-ups last year.
Yoon Dong-hee's clean-up, which was mainly used as a table setter, was also a new attempt. He showed improvement in slugging power by hitting 14 home runs last year, and was fourth in the team after Reyes (111) and Ko Seung-min (87) in RBIs (85). No matter what clutch situation you are in, you can show your own batting, and as long as you focus on increasing stronger batting, your long shot is expected to increase naturally.
Jeon Min-jae took the second base, as expected, without Ko Seung-min's rehabilitation. His competitor, Han Tae-yang and Lee Ho-joon, is also strong, but he has already been proven in defense and running base with a lot of experience in the first team. In some cases, Jeon Min-jae is also likely to be the first shortstop to replace Park Seung-wook.
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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Choi Hang, who was used as an alternative second baseman until last year, is focusing on practicing third base in this camp. It is highly likely that the three will cover shortstop and second base, Choi Hang will play the role of third base, first base and left-handed pinch hitter, and will compete against Roh Jin-hyuk.
After two matches against Taiwan, I asked manager Kim Tae-hyung directly about the Lotte batting order. The head coach is also deeply concerned.
"I was going to leave No. 2 to Go Seungmin, but...This time, I used Na Seung-yeop. It seems to me that both Na Seung-yeop and Yoon Dong-hee should play comfortably in the back batting order rather than putting pressure on the front of the batting order. I'll keep thinking about it until the season opens."
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
