NC infielder Yoon Hyung-jun (29) was left out of the starting lineup in the first game of the second half, against Daejeon Hanwha on 21 April, but came on as a pinch-hitter in the fourth inning. Park Min-woo, the starting second baseman, left the game in the first inning after being struck in the right thigh by a foul ball and suffering a bruise, and Yoon was brought in as a replacement.
In his first at-bat in the fifth inning, Yoon took a 149km fastball high on the body from Hanwha starter Ricardo Sanchez and smashed it over the left field fence. It travelled 110 metres and was his fourth home run of the season. It was a shot that extended the score to 4-0 and brought the game to NC.
He followed that up with a single to right off Lee Tae-yang in the sixth and a single to right off Yoon Dae-kyung in the ninth to finish 3-for-4 with three RBIs. His impressive performance as a substitute earned him a spot in the starting line-up against Hanwha on the 22nd, batting seventh.
Ahead of the game against Hanwha on the 22nd, NC coach Kang Myung-ho said of Yoon, “The things that were bad in the past have been corrected. His left shoulder was lifting in the batter’s box, but he’s working with the hitting coach to correct it. As he accumulates at-bats in the first team and gains experience, good things are coming out.”먹튀검증
Yoon, who started the season as a backup, has been getting more opportunities as the starting first baseman since late May. In 46 games, he is 2-for-9 with 35 runs (119 at-bats), four home runs, 20 RBIs and an .847 OPS. In 10 games in July, he’s batting 3-for-8 (14-for-36) with one home run, six RBIs and a .988 OPS.
His potential is starting to show as he has reached 113 at-bats, the most since his debut. NC first gave left-handed batting prospect Oh Young-soo a chance at first base at the beginning of the season, but he didn’t quite live up to expectations, and has since split time between Do Tae-hoon and the left-handed platoon, with Yoon Hyung-joon’s role increasing in recent years.
The nephew of “baseball genius” Lee Jong-beom, LG’s first base coach, Yoon Hyung-joon was touted as a right-handed batting prospect with a sturdy frame of 186cm and 97kg. After graduating from Gwangju Jinheung High School, he was drafted by NC with the 31st overall pick in the fourth round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft, but he didn’t make as much of an impact as expected and joined LG in the second round after the 2015 season.
He then returned to NC in November 2020 in a trade for infielder Lee Sang-ho, and showed promise in 2021, batting 2-for-9 with 22 runs (74 RBI), five home runs, 10 RBI and an .821 OPS in 51 games. He struggled last year and was unable to continue his growth, but he hasn’t missed his opportunity this year.
