“I think LG won because of Shin Min-jae.”
For KT Wiz coach Lee Kang-chul, the 2023 season will remain a regret. He achieved the miracle of the regular season, from the bottom to the second place. In return, he successfully renewed his contract with the highest salary. The remaining mission was to win the Korean Series.
The team won Game 1. It gained momentum by leading the game through the beginning of Game 2. However, it came from behind to lose Game 2 after receiving a shocking home run from Park Dong-won, and missed Game 3 and ended LG’s 29-year hiatus.
KT and Lee have forgotten their pain in the 2023 season and announced a strong start to win the 2024 season title. Lee is dreaming of winning his second championship at the Gijang spring camp in Busan.
As we talked about this and that, we naturally talked about the last Korean series. It was Lee, who was explaining about KT’s batting line, and he gave the example of the winning team LG. But the content is interesting.
“We lost to LG because of this player,” Lee said. Who would it be? Was it Oh Ji-hwan, who won the MVP award with three home runs, Kim Hyun-soo, or Park Dong-won, who hit a crucial home run? Lee’s name was Shin Min-jae.
Shin was selected as the second baseman by manager Yeom Kyung-yeop during the last season after playing as a backup and pinch runner. He thought he only had quick feet, but as he played as the mainstay, he displayed good batting performance and good performance in his team’s strategy. He also had no major problem in defense, which was his weakness.
“LG’s lineup, which cannot be rested, has been completed as Shin Min-jae went in. If only Shin Min-jae goes out, the battery has no choice but to keep paying attention to his worries about stealing the bases. In addition, chances are linked in the top batting order. I think LG won because of Shin Min-jae. Of course, the role of bullpen pitchers was very good, but there were too many games we lost because of Shin Min-jae even in the regular season. We were beaten a lot by Shin Min-jae in both offense and defense,” he explained. 꽁머니사이트
Lee also got some hints from Shin Min-jae when he wrote the batting order for the 2024 season. He plans to lower Kim Sang-soo, who used to play first, to No. 9. He expects shortstop defense to save Kim Sang-soo’s physical strength and Kim Sang-soo to play a role as a link to create chances in the top batting order in No. 9. He will leave No. 1 to Bae Jeong-dae, who displayed remarkable performance as a top hitter in the Korean Series.