In the 9th inning of the final game of the season, he blew a chance to tie the game with a bunt double play. Raising and manager Seol Jong-jin, the bare face of operational baseball

Oct 01, 2025

The KBO League match between Kiwoom and SSG at Gocheok Dome in Seoul on the 30th. Kiwoom players, who finished this season after the game, greeted their fans. Director Seol Jong Jin greets his fans. Gocheok =Reporter Song Jeong-heon@sportschosun.com/2025.09.30/

Is this the bunt and operation baseball that Kiwoom and head coach Seol Jong-jin want.

The Kiwoom Heroes' 2025 season is over. Kiwoom last played 144 games of the season against SSG Landers at Gocheok Sky Dome on the 30th.

47 wins, 4 draws, 93 losses, and the last place with a winning rate of 336. bottom of the table for the third year in a row.

Still, Kiwoom self-evaluated that it improved under acting coach Seol Jong-jin in the second half of the year, and its performance was slightly better than in the first half. And ahead of the end of the season, acting coach Seol was promoted to an official coach.

Acting coach Seol emphasized bunting and operation since his inauguration. And even after becoming an official coach, he said, `I played active bunting and operational baseball in the second half of the year, and I think I received good reviews because the players performed well.'

But the bunt baseball ended the end of the season in vain. The last attack in the bottom of the ninth inning when the team was losing 3-4 against SSG. SSG, which aims to secure the third place, dispatched closer Cho Byung-hyun. a player who is not easy to attack.

However, the lead Joo Sung-won hit a left-handed hit and took a chance to tie the game.

A game between the Doosan Bears and the Kiwoom Heroes at Jamsil Stadium on the 17th. Kim Gun-hee of Kiwoom with one out in the top of the sixth inning is hitting a timely hit. Jamsil = Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com /2025.09.17/

Next up is Kim Gun-hee. Not a bad scene to choose a bunt. If Cho Byung-hyun's pitch was acknowledged, it was realistic to send the runner to second base and hope for success in two games if he thought it was difficult to get consecutive hits.

However, Kim Gun-hee is a promising catcher. It is not a contact type. The bunt is clumsy. A bunt foul came out in the 2B situation. And the next ball was also forced to bunt and rolled a strong ground ball in front of the pitcher, and cold water was poured down with an easy 1-6-3 double play. That was practically the end of the game. It didn't get any good results in front of the home fans.

If you were going to bunt, why don't you substitute players with good operational performance. Lim Byung-wook and Oh Sun-jin were the only players who entered as replacements on the day, and players with a high probability of successful bunting, such as Kwon Hyuk-bin, Jeon Tae-hyun and Park Soo-jong, were waiting.

The KBO League match between Kiwoom and SSG at Gocheok Dome in Seoul on the 30th. Kiwoom manager Seol Jong-jin is watching the game. Gocheok =Reporter Song Jeong-heon@sportschosun.com/2025.09.30/

Kim Gun-hee leaves a regret, which reminds me of the SSG match on July 30. It was the Incheon game. At that time, Kim Gun-hee hit a home run in the third inning. And he succeeded in a sacrifice bunt in the top of the sixth inning with no outs and a first base chance when he was leading 5-4. The commentator who was broadcasting the game at the time made a critical comment, saying, `I'm leading by one point, but I don't know why I'm ordering a sacrifice bunt to a player who hit a home run at bat.' There was no extra point in the inning.

This is not to say that the bunting operation is necessarily bad. However, it is helpful for the team and can shake the opponent only when the operation is carried out according to the situation.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.