The rebound in the second half of the Lotte Giants depends on whether Yoo Gang-nam, who showed a unique presence in the All-Star Game, will be active.
On the 15th, KBO (Korean Professional Baseball) League All-Star Game held at Sajik Stadium in Busan, ‘Sajik Kim Soo-hyun’ appeared. At the beginning of the 8th inning, Yoo Gang-nam of the Dream All-Star team took his first plate at bat, wearing a shirt and tie under his uniform and carrying a bag behind his back. Yoo Kang-nam, a parody of Kim Soo-hyun from the drama ‘My Love from the Star’, even recorded a hit on his birthday, drawing attention from fans.
In the home run race, the eve of the event, he showed off his presence as a batting ball pitcher who helped Chae Eun-seong win. Chae Eun-seong announced that he would split the prize money of 5 million won 6 to 4 with Yoo Gang-nam, who said he would start pitching first.
Yoo Gang-nam, who finished the All-Star Game in a good mood, is aiming for a rebound in the second half. Ahead of this season, he joined Lotte with a total of 8 billion won over 4 years as a free agent (FA), but his performance in the first half of 74 games with a batting average of 0.233 and 5 homers was disappointing.
The team’s ranking fluctuated according to the performance of the master of the house, Kang-Nam Yoo. Yoo Gang-nam, who had been sluggish with a batting average of 0.186 in 14 games after the opening, revived with a batting average of 0.276 during Lotte’s 9th consecutive win, starting with the KIA Tigers on April 20. At that time, the team’s ERA stabilized at 2.41, and the team’s ranking rose vertically from 8th to 1st.
The problem was in June. Kang-Nam Yoo, with a batting average of 0.211, did not contribute to the team’s offense, and foreign one-two punchers Dan Strayley and Charlie Barnes, who worked well with batteries, also collapsed with an average ERA of 4 points. Accordingly, Lotte was also shaken with 6 consecutive losing series starting with the LG Twins on the 6th.
The encouraging part is that Yoo Kang-nam’s bat is reviving recently. On the 27th of last month, against the Samsung Lions, he fired his first career ending arch, and then raised his sense of hitting with a batting average of 0.292 and two homers in 8 games in July.토토사이트주소
Lotte, who finished the first half in 5th place, is only 3 and a half games behind 9th place Kiwoom Heroes. Currently, Lotte’s batting average is stagnant, with team home runs (35) and RBIs (303), last in the league, and slugging percentage (0.346) and on-base percentage (0.327) 9th. The mound also recorded the second highest ERA (4.52) after Samsung, so it is possible to fight for the ranks only when all the pitching hits survive. This is why catcher Yoo Kang-nam’s role in the second half is important.
In the final series of the first half, Lotte coach Larry Sutton said, “Yoo Kang-nam is a player with excellent leadership. The reason Lotte recruited him is because he is good at leading pitchers,” he said. He hasn’t made any major changes lately, but his sense of hitting has been revived while using his strengths.”