A week has passed since Kiwoom Heroes coach Hong Won-gi took out the “Lead-off Lee Jung-hoo” card. Has there been a change in the KBO league’s representative icon?
Lee Jung-hoo started as the first hitter from the Daegu Samsung Lions match on the 2nd. He only had a batting average of 0.218 in the 22 games he played in April and lost his pride as the MVP (Most Valuable Player) last season (2022). Coaching staff under coach Hong Won-ki advanced his batting order from number 3 to number 1 for the rebound of the main hitter. There was anticipation for him to take another at-bat and regain his sense of speed.
Lee Jung-hoo started as the first hitter and recorded a multi-hit game against Samsung on the 2nd. In the match against Samsung the next day (3rd), he hit one double. On the 5th and 7th, he added 1 double hit to SSG Landers. He had a hit in five games during the week. His batting average was 0.231.
He’s not much better than when he came out as the third hitter. However, he started to hit the ball in the center of the bat, and the number of balls in play increased. One of the three doubles recorded in the match against Samsung can be attributed to the fielder Jose Pirella’s failure to properly capture the point of the falling ball. However, at the end of the 8th inning against SSG on the 5th, Noh Kyung-eun’s 145km/h four-seam fastball (fastball) hit the right wall with a one-bound, and the ball that passed the first baseman’s mitt at the end of the 2nd inning against SSG on the 7th and reached the right line was really It was fast and strong. Last season (2022) seemed to see the swing and fall throw. It is also encouraging that all three long hits were made by targeting fastballs. Lee Jung-hoo took a few days off due to a back injury at the beginning of the season. Now, there is no difficulty in dealing with the ball quickly.
There were few strikeouts in April, which was sluggish. He recorded 9 total, 0.09 per at-bat. Even after being pulled as the first batter, he only struck out two in 27 at-bats in six games. His walks have dropped significantly to 0.04 in his last six games from May, when he was 0.14 per at-bat. In fact, he only walked on base once.
He has only one RBI because he has not been in scoring position even once for a week. There was no chance. However, when there was a runner, he recorded 3 hits and 3 walks in 7 at-bats, leading the lead runner to advance.
Lee Jung-hoo recorded one hit against SSG on the 5th, 24 years, 8 months and 15 days, and recorded 1100 hits in his career after 824 individual games. His father, Lee Jong-beom, LG Twins coach, had 1,100 hits in the least game (868 games), and Doosan Bears coach Lee Seung-yeop, the youngest (26 years and 5 days old), all of which were rewritten. 스포츠토토
He came out as the number one hitter and obviously got some good energy. The quality of his batted ball is still good. The only thing missing is the numbers. It just doesn’t follow the results.
On the 23rd of last month, after batting training against SSG in Incheon, Lee Jung-hoo came into the dugout and said to himself, ‘It’s not a batting average’. He was heard with a determination not to dwell on low numbers, but to get the mechanism back when it was good.
In early May, the situation remains the same. What Lee Jung-hoo needs is mental management.