Catcher Kang Baek-ho, First Hitter Mel Rojas… KT’s Unique Crisis Management Method
As a series of starting pitchers left due to injury, Kang-cheol's message to change the team atmosphere was reflected in the performance… 3 wins in last 6 games
Professional baseball team KT Wiz is going through a major crisis these days.
This is because the starting pitchers who led the team last season have left the team due to injuries and poor physical condition.
Ko Young-pyo's entry was canceled last month due to elbow pain, and foreign pitcher Wes Benjamin was excluded from the entry on the 13th after requesting a three-week break from the team due to elbow and shoulder pain.
Two days later, Eom Sang-baek also missed the event due to fatigue. 카지노사이트킹
KT was already struggling to fill the void left by Hyun Joon, who had undergone elbow surgery, and Bae Seong, who had enlisted, but was hit hard by an unexpected tsunami of injuries.
The departure of starting pitchers was even more painful as they had rebounded with a winning percentage of 0.667 in 19 games held from the 15th of last month to the 9th of this month.
However, KT is holding up well despite the collapse of the starting lineup.
KT has recorded 3 wins and 3 losses in the last 6 games played since the 13th when Benjamin was out.
7th place KT is in 5th place and has 5 games to go, which is not much different from the beginning of this month.
A unique team atmosphere is behind KT's courageous ability to overcome crises.
In recent years, KT has been sluggish at the beginning of each season, but has shown a remarkable rise ahead of the summer.
From 2020 to last year, the team hovered in the bottom tier at the beginning of the season without missing a single year, but made a frightening breakthrough and succeeded in advancing to the postseason.
As a similar pattern continues every year, the players are not greatly disturbed even if the team's ranking drops at the beginning of the season.
KT coach Lee Kang-cheol said on the 21st, “The team is having a difficult time, but the team atmosphere is not bad at all,” and “It seems like some resistance has developed.”
In fact, KT does not give up on the game even in difficult situations.
In the game against the LG Twins on the 18th, KT was down 0-7 until the top of the 5th inning under adverse conditions with Bullpen Sovereign as a replacement starter, but they gave their all to the end, scoring 4 runs in the 8th and 9th innings, and fought a great chase.
The result of the game was a 6-7 loss, but it was a game that gave us an idea of the mindset the KT players had going into the game.
In the game against LG on the 19th, despite starting the unknown Seong Jae-heon, bullpen member Son Dong-hyun showed his fighting spirit and took responsibility for 3 innings, winning 10-4.
In the match against the Samsung Lions on the 21st, when high school rookie Yuk Cheong-myeong started.
The team was ahead 5-1, but allowed 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to tie the game, and there was an atmosphere of come-from-behind defeat, but they scored again in the 11th overtime and won 8-5.
KT's unwavering team atmosphere is also influenced by coach Lee Kang-cheol's unique mercenary skills.
Manager Lee made the unconventional decision to hire Kang Baek-ho as catcher when key hitters suffered a slump early this season.
It was a plan to give responsibility to Kang Baek-ho, who performed poorly last year, and to use players with good hitting skills, such as Moon Sang-cheol, in the designated hitter position.
Recently, they are seeing results by using Mel Rojas Jr., a foreign hitter who is slow but has a good on-base percentage, as the number one hitter.
The purpose is to strengthen the cohesion of the attack by placing strong hitters in front.
Coach Lee Kang-cheol's decision sends a signal to the players that they are ‘not giving up'.
KT, which is gritting its teeth and holding on, sees next month as the time for a full-fledged rebound when injured players return.
Eom Sang-baek returns at the end of May, Benjamin returns at the beginning of June, and Go Young-pyo and So Hyeong-jun return at the end of June.
Coach Lee Kang-cheol said, “I will try to hold out as much as I can until June.”
