"A top hitter who can't steal but hits a home run..." Lee Kang-chul's ideal Kang Baek-ho. "Attacking first hitter."
"A top hitter who can't steal but hits a home run..." Lee Kang-chul's ideal Kang Baek-ho. "Attacking first hitter."
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Kang Baek-ho should be considered the first hitter in the offensive."
KT Wiz manager Lee Kang-cheol produced an epoch-making lineup at the Okinawa practice game. Kang Baek-ho and Mel Rojas Jr., the center hitters, were placed as table setters.메이저놀이터
Kang Baek-ho, who is the designated hitter and catcher, will be the top hitter, and Rojas will be the second batter. Huh Kyung-min from Doosan hits No. 3 and Jang Sung-woo hits No. 4. The "bundle batting line" was created where the 1st and 2nd were much heavier than the 3rd and 4th.
Rojas had started 91 games as the first hitter last season. In the case of Kang Baek-ho, he was a cleanup hitter in 2018 when he was a rookie, with the intention to go to many at-bats and gain experience, but he mainly played as the center hitter in 2019, mainly as the third hitter.
Kang Baek-ho hit 26 home runs last year, and Rojas hit 32 home runs, ranking first and second in the team.
Regarding Kang's type of top hitter, Manager Lee Kang-chul said, "He is the first offensive hitter." In general, top hitters often deploy players with high on-base percentage and excellent baserunning ability. While watching the ball a lot, it also helps subsequent batters adjust to the starting pitchers' pitches.
Kang is a very aggressive batter, so he is not the type of top hitter that most people think he is. Lee is also well aware of this. "Kang should be seen as an offensive type No.1. He is not this type of guy," Lee said. "To do that, Rojas should be the top hitter, but I decided to choose Kang Baek-ho and Rojas because I don't think it would be a waste."
"Still, Kang said he would hit 180 hits and hit .350. That's why I told him to do whatever he wants," Lee said.
Kang's on-base percentage has not been very high in recent years. It was 0.360 last year, 0.347 in 71 games in 2023 and 0.312 in 2022.
However, Kang's on-base percentage was quite low just before the game. He had an on-base percentage of over 0.400 for three years from 2019 to 2021. He ranked second with 0.416 in 2019, fifth with 0.411 in 2020, and second with an on-base percentage, especially after LG Twins' Hong Chang-ki (0.456) with a high on-base percentage of 0.450 in 2021. His on-base percentage is 0.388.
However, no matter how many top hitters they are, they are unlikely to steal many bases. The biggest number of stolen bases in a single season was 10 in 2021. Last year, he attempted eight times and succeeded six times. The success rate is 66.7 percent with 38 successes and 19 failures in his career.
After recovering from poor performance last year, Kang regained confidence in hitting. Moreover, he will become a free agent at the end of this season, which will surely give him motivation. Kang's most hits in this season are 179 hits in 2021. If he hits 180 hits as a cleanup hitter, he will set a new record for his most hits in this season. If he enters the batter's box more than the 29 homeruns he hit in this season as a rookie, he can expect to surpass 30 homeruns for the first time since his debut in the pro league.
In other words, being a top hitter can help Kang Baek-ho. How will Kang Baek-ho, the "very strong" first hitter, fare.