The “strong No. 2 hitter” has been one of the most popular trends in baseball in recent years. Many teams and coaches have been thinking about the second spot in the batting order to maximize their offense, both overseas and domestically.
카지노사이트 LG Twins manager Yoon Kyung-yeop, who previously managed the Nexen Heroes (now the Kiwoom Heroes), used to give Lee Taek-geun (retired) the No. 2 spot. Yoon’s “ideal” for a No. 2 hitter is “a hitter with a high batting average and long power,” and Lee was one of those players. This is why Moon Sung-ju, who was closer to this ideal until the beginning of the season, was placed in the No. 2 spot.
However, Shin Min-jae, who has recently formed a table-setter with Hong Chang-ki in the LG lineup, is a different type of second baseman than Yoon’s ideal. While his batting average of .326 (57 hits in 175 at-bats) as of Aug. 25 isn’t that low, he’s more of a mobility hitter than a long hitter.
When asked about playing Shin Min-jae at No. 2 before Game 12 of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the Lotte Giants at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Thursday, manager Yoon Kyung-yeop said, “If you put Shin Min-jae at No. 2, you can do two things. If you put Moon Sung-joo at second, you can only attack, and if you put Shin Min-jae at second, you can attack and operate, and then the kills are reduced,” he said, adding, “Personally, I don’t like the kills in the first inning.”
“Since (leadoff hitter) Hong Chang-ki has a high probability of getting on base, when Hong Chang-ki is out (on the DL), it’s better for Shin Min-jae to be able to get on base at the moment because I’ve seen him improve rather than Moon Sung-joo being able to solve something,” Yeom said, adding, “Baseball is a game of probability anyway, so when it comes to which hitter has a higher probability of getting on base, Shin Min-jae has a higher probability.”
The batter he was referring to was Oh Ji-hwan. He has just two home runs in 88 games this season, but last year he hit a career-high 25 home runs and reached 20 home runs and 20 doubles for the first time in his professional career. Based on his 2022 season, it’s safe to say that Oh is close to reaching Yoon Kyung-yeop’s “No. 2 hitter ideal. “If Oh had hit as many home runs as he did last year, there’s a good chance he would have gone to the No. 2 spot,” Yoon said, “but there would have been a little bit of a physical burden on his defense.”
In fact, the current lineup is “complete,” and LG is not expected to deviate too much from its current mold, even if there is a short season after the regular season ends. Shin Min-jae, who was moved to the second spot in the batting order in preparation for the postseason, has lived up to the team’s expectations with a .333 batting average with 19 hits in 57 at-bats and 12 RBIs. With the last piece of the batting puzzle somewhat resolved, LG is taking a step toward its big dreams.