KIA Tigers manager Lee Beom-ho expressed his strong faith in Na Sung-bum, the “captain.” Lee’s view is that there is no reason to exclude Na Sung-bum, the best hitter in Korea, from the central lineup.
KIA lost 1-2 at the Gocheok Kiwoom Heroes on Aug. 14. Kia, which aimed to secure early confirmation of the Winning Series, allowed a tie in the bottom of the eighth inning with a 1-0 lead, and suffered a momentary collapse after being hit by a walk-off home run by Choi Joo-hwan in the bottom of the ninth inning.
On this day, KIA faced Kiwoom starting pitcher Furado with a starting batting order that led to Park Chan-ho (striker), Kim Sun-bin (second baseman), Kim Do-young (third baseman), Na Sung-bum (designated hitter), Socrates (middle fielder), Lee Woo-sung (first baseman), Choi Won-joon (right fielder), Kim Tae-gun (pastor), and Lee Chang-jin (left fielder).
Na, who had no hits in four times at bat in the previous day’s game, was assigned to the fourth batter’s box in Thursday’s game as well. On Na’s batting order, coach Lee Bum-ho said, “I will continue to deploy him to the fourth or fifth batter’s box.”
Coach Lee, who met with reporters before the game on the 14th, said, “In the case of Na Sung-bum, even if it is batting order adjustment, he is now changing his batting order with Socrates at the 4th and 5th positions. Personally, I think the central batting line should have a batter who can hit a home run or not. That way, the team’s batting lineup itself does not look weak,” and stressed, “Na Sung-bum is doing well enough even though there are ups and downs.”
Of course, it seems that it is not easy to fill the gap of Choi Hyung-woo, who left due to a side injury. Na Sung-bum has no choice but to carry more pressure to fill the vacancy of Choi Hyung-woo.
“As Na Sung-bum also lacks Choi Hyung-woo, he feels more pressure as a central hitter. I need to reduce that pressure even a little bit. In addition, the player himself seems to be making great efforts to increase the sense of hitting. To be honest, he is one of the best hitters in Korea, so our team should trust him and go,” he said.
Manager Lee views Kim Do-young’s ideal batting order as the third batting order. As a result, the performance of batters who are placed in the order of Kim Do-young’s batting order has become more important.
“I think No. 3 batting order is the best for Kim. As Kim is a fast-paced player, he can aim for stolen bases. If Kim is placed in the batting order of No. 4, it is questionable whether he will be able to utilize the player even more in situations where he has two outs,” Lee said. “No. 2 batting order is good, but we can expect him to have a root that can generate more points when he has fewer outcounts in the batting order of No. 3.” 메이저놀이터
However, Na did not perform as well as Lee hoped in the game on Wednesday. After being grounded out to the third base at his first at bat in the top of the first inning, Na made a hit to the right field with two outs and a runner on the first base in the top of the third inning, creating a chance for him to hit the first and third bases. However, his fly ball to the outfield by the follow-up batter Socrates did not lead to the score.
In the top of the fifth inning, Na had a critical chance. Third batter Kim Do-young hit a triple directly to the right fence, creating a chance to score with one out and runners on third base. However, Na Sung-bum had an RBI opportunity by striking out the opponent’s starting pitcher Furado with a swing and miss after four pitches. Afterwards, Socrates also grounded out and scored no additional runs. 메이저놀이터
Na remained grounded out to the first baseman in the top of the eighth inning. Kia, which failed to score additional points, suffered a bitter upset loss when it hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning after allowing the team to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth inning with a 1-0 lead. If it had scored even one more point, the game would have been completely different. However, the central lineup, excluding Kim Do-young, remained silent during the opportunity to score additional points.
KIA will meet Heyesus as its starting pitcher at the match against Kiwoom in Gocheok on Saturday. Considering that he is a left-handed starter, there is a possibility that Na Sung-bum will stand on the bench. As the race for the championship becomes more difficult at the end of the regular season, Na Sung-bum’s slump will inevitably come to a painful end. We wonder whether Na Sung-bum, who coach Lee Bum-ho desperately wants, will be revived in the remaining 32 games.