has made foreign hitters, who were regretful about making up for it, a blessing. The bullpen still boasts the strongest majesty in the league. LG, with a fire bat and iron wall bullpen, is approaching the top of the regular league in the 2023 professional baseball season. However, it is still uneasy to hold a grand banquet with the fans as the legendary ‘winner’. It is because the starting pitching staff, which is the only weakness, does not match the team performance.안전놀이터
The power that LG can run in first place starts with the other line. LG’s team batting average this season reached 0.282 as of the 6th. This is an overwhelming figure with a difference of 1 penny and 3 li from the second place NC (0.269). Considering that LG ranked 3rd in the league with 0.269 last season, this is a further strengthening. Hong Chang-ki is competing as a leading hitter with a batting average of 0.330 (3rd in batting average), and Moon Seong-joo is also batting in the 30% range (0.307). They also played a big role when the team won 7-4 in the match against Samsung held that day. Hong Chang-ki went 5 at bats with 3 hits and 1 RBI, and Moon Seong-joo recorded 2 hits, 2 RBIs and 1 walk in 5 at-bats, including a wedge two-runner.
The happiest thing in the batting line is that the foreign hitter, who was a ‘troubleshooter’ until last season, has turned into a ‘lucky ball’. In the meantime, LG has suffered a cruel history of foreign batters. Last season, the playoffs (PO) were played without foreign hitters. Austin, who was recruited for the 2023 season, also played 12 demonstration games and was sluggish with 7 hits in 36 at-bats. But since the season started, Austin has become a completely different player. This season, Austin is hitting 0.297 with 13 home runs and 66 RBIs. RBI ranks first among all hitters.
Ham Deok-joo (from left), Jung Woo-young, Austin, Go Woo-seok, Choi Won-tae
LG’s scoring position batting average is frightening. LG is the only team in the league with a batting average of 30% (0.302) in scoring position. The gap with Lotte (0.288) in second place is also large. His concentration shines, so his RBI ranks first. With 479 RBIs, LG is ahead of second place KT (409 RBIs) by 70 RBIs.
The mound is also solid. LG’s team ERA is 3.61, which is first in the league. That’s the power of the bullpen. At the beginning of the season, Ko Woo-seok showed a sluggish appearance, but super rookie Park Myung-geun added strength to the existing resources such as Ham Deok-joo, Jung Woo-young, and Yoo Young-chan to fill the void. Park Myung-keun pitched 36 innings in 36 games this season, pitching 4 wins, 5 holds and 5 saves with an ERA of 3.25. Park Myung-keun was taken off the line in July due to an injury, but plans to return during this month.
What is disappointing is the selection. Like last season, LG’s starting pitcher is a weakness. The average ERA of LG starters this season is 4.06 (based on the 5th), which is only 6th in the league. Compared to the bullpen, whose ERA is only 3.15, the difference is even more noticeable. As a result, starting pitchers are unable to stay on the mound for long. Last season, LG starters blocked 731.0 innings. This is 9th out of 10 teams. This season, the starting lineup of LG only managed 468.1 innings in 93 games. Considering that all three teams under LG played at least two games less than LG, it is difficult to find any improvement from last year.
LG brought Choi Won-tae in a trade with Kiwoom to reinforce the starting lineup. Choi Won-tae played well with 6 scoreless innings in the first game on the 30th of last month, but collapsed with 5 innings and 6 runs in his second game, against KIA on the 5th.
In fact, the KBO is happy with LG’s performance. This season, professional baseball spectators exceeded 5 million on the 4th. The number of games it took to reach 5 million spectators has increased from 463 games in the 2019 season to 457 this season. This is the power of LG. LG mobilized a total of 795,141 people in 49 games played at home. The average per game is 16,228. All are league 1.