Lee Jeong-hoo (25, Kiwoom Heroes) is awarded. In the baseball world, there is a saying, “There is a slump, but it will rebound soon,” but there is also a saying, “I don’t know this year.” This is because the batting performance at the beginning of the season is not too good compared to previous years.
As of the 23rd, Lee Jeong-hoo’s batting average is only in the 10% range (0.197). He was the one whose career batting average for six seasons until last year was 0.342 (1st all-time over 3000 at bats). Last season’s batting champion (0.349) also disappeared. He played in 17 games of the season until the match against SSG Landers on the 23rd, where he recorded 1 hit and 1 walk in 4 at-bats, and there were only 2 multi-hit games (2 hits or more in 1 game), and 8 games with no hits were more than half.
It is notable that the number of strikeouts has increased.스포츠토토 Lee Jung-hoo was a player who was evaluated as “there is no place to throw” for his excellent pioneering eye and contact ability. He only struck out once in 12.7 at-bats for his career through last year. In particular, last season, when he won five batting crowns, he walked into the dugout only once per 19.6 plate appearances (32 strikeouts in 627 at bats) on average. In his postseason, he even struck out in just 52 at-bats. But he is different this year. He strikes out an average of once per 9.9 plate appearances (8 strikeouts in 79 at-bats). On the 19th and 20th, against Samsung, he struck out two consecutive games for the first time in his professional debut.
Changing the batting form last winter has been showing bad results so far. After this season, Lee Jung-hoo announced his entry into the major leagues through the posting system, and changed his batting form concisely in preparation for a pitcher with a fast ball. During the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), it seemed that he had adapted to the changed pitching form. The tournament batting average reached 0.429 (6 hits in 14 at-bats). However, in the domestic regular league, he is somewhat at a loss. Shim Jae-hak, a commentator for MBC Sports Plus, said, “It seems to be a transitional period. I am returning to the same batting form as last year, but it seems that I have a lot of thoughts at bat.” Lee Jung-hoo is currently struggling to escape from sluggishness to the extent that he continues to wield a bat in the dugout.
As Lee Jung-hoo was sluggish, Kiwoom, the runner-up in the Korean Series last year, was also not doing well. They suffered 3 consecutive losses against SSG on the weekend, and are in 7th place overall with 8 wins and 11 losses (0.421 win rate). It is a disappointing result considering that they made an unusual move to reinforce external free agents such as Won Jong-hyun and Lee Hyeong-jong in the last Stove League aiming for the championship.
On the other hand, Choi Hyeong-woo of the Kia Tigers hit Samsung starter Baek Jeong-hyeon in the bottom of the first inning against the Samsung Lions at KIA Champions Field in Gwangju that day and hit Samsung starter Baek Jeong-hyeon and hit his 465th double. It surpassed the record for the most doubles (464) set by Doosan Bears manager Lee Seung-yeop during his active career. Choi Hyung-woo helped Kia win 5-3 by playing 3 hits (4 at-bats) including a home run that day. The Lotte Giants won the game 0-3 against the NC Dinos, but turned it over to 5-3 in the top of the 9th inning and ran for 4 consecutive wins. NC, which once competed for first place with SSG and LG Twins, slipped to fifth place with five consecutive losses. The Hanwha Eagles broke away from a three-game losing streak by winning a come-from-behind match against LG, 7-6. Doosan Bears and KT Wiz drew 1-1 in the 12th inning of overtime.
