He's definitely a backup, but he's going to play in 25 games as a starter. Five minutes to infield.
May 13, 2025
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LG Twins' fifth infielder Koo Bon-hyuk's presence is still shining in all infield positions this season.
Koo Bon-hyuk plays the role of the No. 1 backup infielder who enters the necessary position at any time and plays the role thanks to his good defense in the infield position such as shortstop, second baseman, and third baseman.
However, there are more days when he starts than when he plays as a substitute. He played in 35 games this season, of which 25 were starters and the remaining 10 were substitutes for pinch-hitters or algebra players.
He started 11 games as a second baseman, 10 as a shortstop, and 4 as a third baseman. In the beginning, when Oh Ji-hwan, the main shortstop, was injured, he filled the spot, and as second baseman Shin Min-jae continued to be sluggish, he entered instead. Moon Bo-kyung went out as a first baseman or as a third baseman. He is also the first right-handed infielder to start when the opponent's left-handed starter comes out. In the second half of the game, he played as a defense god to protect the team's victory.
He is batting .228 (18 hits in 79 at-bats) with seven RBIs and eight runs scored this season. The batting performance is not very good, but sometimes he makes helpful hits. In the match against the Samsung Lions in Daegu on the 11th, he started as the 9th-2nd baseman and was turned around 3-4 in the bottom of the 6th inning, and then hit a heavy hit from Samsung's second pitcher Kim Tae-hoon after two outs in the top of the 7th inning. After that, the top lineup exploded and scored three points, and the team eventually won 7-4. One hit after Koo Bon-hyuk's two hits became the seed of a turnaround.
Koo Bon-hyuk also played a key backup last year when he returned from military service. When Oh Ji-hwan and Shin Min-jae were out due to injuries, he played in 93 games as a starter. He entered 389 at-bats, the ninth-most in the team, and had a batting average of 257 (87 hits in 339 at-bats) with two home runs and 43 RBIs.
He has been playing the role of a backup like the main player this season with stable defense capabilities and hitting like Altoran.
Shin Min-jae, who had been sluggish in May, went down to the second division to adjust on the 12th. Koo Bon-hyuk has a role to play at second base.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
