The Kia Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) are joining the parade of ‘strong No. 1 hitters’.
On the 9th, the KIA Tigers deployed foreign hitter Socrates Brito as the No. 1 hitter in their away game against the LG Twins of the 2024 KBO at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul.
It will be the first time in about two years and two months that outfielder Socrates will bat first since April 28, 2022, against KT WIZ.
Socrates is far from a typical No. 1 hitter.
He has stolen 10 or more bases in back-to-back years since his KBO debut, but he has made his presence felt with his bat rather than his power.
Socrates hit 17 home runs in 2022 and 20 last year, and this season he has 17 arches in the first half alone.
He is more suited to the role of batting in the center of the batting order than as a table-setter who gets on base and sets the table.
However, Kia made the decision as Park Chan-ho, who has been batting leadoff a lot lately, has not been hitting well, and Kim Do-young has been excelling in the center of the order.
“(Kim) has a good batting ability, but his run production is a bit low,” said KIA manager Lee Beom-ho before the LG game, “so we thought it would be effective to put Socrates, who has a good bat, in the middle of the order.”
“Socrates has a higher batting average when there are no runners on base. We decided to use Socrates and Choi Won-joon as the No. 1 and No. 2 batsmen in the future,” he added.
In recent years, professional baseball teams have often used long-hitting power hitters in the No. 1 spot.
This is because the batting order becomes less meaningful once the top of the order rotates, so it is effective to have a strong hitter in the top of the order who has many at-bats.
This season, KT used Mel Rojas Jr. and the Doosan Bears used Henry Ramos as their No. 1 hitter to good effect.
In Major League Baseball (MLB), the trend is even stronger. The Los Angeles Dodgers utilize superstar Shohei Ohtani as their No. 1 hitter.
“I think it will take about 10 more days (to return),” Lee Bum-ho said of closer Jeong Jung-young, who is out with a shoulder injury. “There is no major problem, but we delayed his return so that he can throw the ball with a relaxed mind.” 카지노사이트
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