I didn’t expect it at all.”
Lotte Giants outfielder Yoon Dong-hee will join the national team for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said, “The Korea Baseball Softball Association (KBSA) Performance Improvement Committee and the KBO Power Strengthening Committee confirmed Lotte outfielder Yoon Dong-hee as a replacement for KIA Tigers Lee Ui-ri, whose replacement for the Hangzhou Asian Games baseball team was confirmed on the 22nd. “I did,” he said.
The KBO then explained the background of the selection, saying, “The national team coaching staff, power enhancement committee, and performance improvement committee judged that reinforcement of professional outfielders and right-handed hitters was necessary, and after discussion, it was decided to finally select Dong-hee Yoon.”
This season, Dong-Hee Yoon is recording 103 hits in 353 at-bats in 99 games, a batting average of 0.292, 2 home runs, and 38 RBIs, and has gradually increased his pace since May, showing his presence. Although he slowed down a bit after August, the national team believed that Yoon Dong-hee was an essential resource at this point.
Yoon Dong-hee and the Lotte players, who were preparing for the game as usual, were surprised. Moreover, the head coach seemed a little embarrassed by the news that came 2 hours before the start of the game.
Lotte coach Lee Jong-woon said ahead of the 14th game of the season against SSG Landers in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Incheon SSG Landers Field on the 22nd, “I don’t know whether to like it or not, but personally, I congratulate Dong-hee Yoon because it is a great honor and a good opportunity for me. “I want to do it,” he said.
There was no time for the players and head coach to talk. Coach Lee said, “We have a lot of work to do, but it’s not a situation to talk about separately. I didn’t expect it at all,” and added, “I didn’t expect that another player (from my team) would be missing since two people (Park Se-woong and Na Kyun-an) were leaving the starting lineup anyway.” reported.
Coach Lee, who has been watching Yoon Dong-hee closely since he was in the second team at the beginning of the season, said, “In some ways, the team may not have had high expectations in the beginning, but I think he took the opportunity himself. He worked hard and did well and the good results were achieved. “There is an opportunity like this because there is an opportunity like this. I think it is something that the player creates himself,” he said. “He was a very focused player, so we talked a lot about that and gave him some advice on hitting, but unlike other players, he was focused and greedy.” I looked back.
On the one hand, this decision was embarrassing for Lotte.
Ahead of today’s game, Lotte canceled pitcher Na Kyun-an and outfielder Ko Seung-min from the entry list and called up outfielder Kim Dong-hyuk and infielder Jeong Dae-seon. This is because following Yoon Dong-hee, Ko Seung-min was also left vacant.
Therefore, there are a total of five outfield resources that can be utilized in the current first team entry, including Kim Dong-hyuk, Kim Min-seok, Yoon Dong-hee, Hwang Seong-bin, and An Kwon-soo. Excluding Yoon Dong-hee, who will be called up to the national team on the 23rd, there are only four. In addition, Kim Dong-hyuk, who joined with the 64th pick in the 2nd 7th round of the 2023 rookie draft, has no first-team experience. In the end, Lotte was in a situation where it had to rely on three fielders: Kim Min-seok, Hwang Seong-bin, and An Kwon-su.
Manager Lee Jong-woon said, “I was in a really bad mood right now because Ko Seung-min didn’t get the opportunity and his batting balance wasn’t established, so I thought it would be better to go to the second team and practice if he was going to stay like this.” He added, “If it seemed like Yoon Dong-hee would be left out, Ko Seung-min “It wasn’t a situation to give up. If Yoon Dong-hee wasn’t there, I think Ko Seung-min could have had a good opportunity, but I couldn’t use the 10 days,” he said regretfully.
Dong-Hee Yoon, who was suddenly called up by the national team, plays leadoff. Lotte, who faces Gwang-Hyun Kim, is Dong-hee Yoon (right fielder) – Dong-hee Han (first baseman) – Hoon Jeong (designated hitter) – Jun-woo Jeon (left fielder) – Kang-nam Yoo (catcher) – Nico Goodrum (shortstop) – Dae-seon Jeong (second baseman) – Min-soo Kim (third baseman) ) – Hwang Seong-bin (center fielder) formed the lineup in that order. While Noh Jin-hyuk was unable to play as a starter due to a bad back condition, Gudum, who was unable to bring his physical condition up to 100%, announced his intention to play.
Coach Lee Jong-woon said about Jeong Dae-seon, who started as a second baseman, “He has good contact ability and a good swagger trajectory, so he can hit both fastballs and breaking balls. He was the player with the best contact ability in the second team, so I was very interested in him.” “With Ahn Chi-hong (who was canceled due to illness), everyone is not in good condition, so we are going to give Jeong Dae-seon a chance at this time,” he said. 메이저사이트
The starting pitcher on this day was Park Se-woong. Coach Lee Jong-woon said, “We would be grateful to the coaching staff if he would pitch at least 6 innings. From our perspective, Park Se-woong is a player who always pitches with a positive mindset and does not say he is tired even when he is having a hard time. I hope he pitches well before going to the national team.” cheered.