It’s been six weeks since Kim Kyung-moon took over as head coach of the Hanwha Eagles in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO). Under Kim, the Eagles are 14-16-1 (.467 winning percentage) in 31 games and are in ninth place in the standings. At eighth place, 5.5 games behind fifth-place SSG, they’re not out of the postseason, but it’s not an easy gap to make up with 56 games remaining.
With the number of games dwindling, each game is crucial, which is why Kim Ki-joong, who was shaky against LG in Daejeon on March 13, allowing three runs on five hits (one home run) with two walks and three strikeouts in 1⅔ innings, was replaced with 36 pitches. Before the game against LG on Thursday, manager Kim Kyung-moon said, “Normally, I would have seen more, but one loss and one loss is big. The number of games is decreasing, but the number of wins is the same,” explaining that he gave a message as a manager.
Park Sang-won, who entered the game early in the second inning, retired 10 batters in a row until the fifth inning to maintain a three-run gap, but the offense struggled to get going and lost 3-7. Kim said, “If we could have held them to three runs (until the fifth inning), the bats should have followed suit. If we could have come back like that, we’re a strong team, and we wouldn’t be in this position. Even if we’re losing, we have to be able to score runs when we get the opportunity to do so. That’s the kind of team we need to be.”
While the batting hasn’t been clicking,
Kim is more concerned about the defense. “The worst thing is to bat a little bit in the middle and not be able to field. We, Hanwha, need to work on our batting, but we also need to work on our defense. Only then can we become a strong team. Hwang Young-mook won the game (against LG on Dec. 12) because he defended like he was excited, and we need to cut off the opponent’s energy like that,” Kim said.
“The hardest thing is the pitcher when you miss a catchable pitch and make a mistake. If you miss a pitch, you lose an inning. Then the bullpen goes out faster, and you have to throw more. It’s a vicious cycle. 메이저사이트 We have a lot of homework ahead of us. We’ll have to work on it for the rest of the season, but that’s the only way we can be a strong team,” he said, reiterating the need for Hanwha to be a defensively sound team.
However, despite the no-hitter, Hanwha was plagued by a slew of unforced errors that led to a 4-8 loss. In the first inning, Moon Bo-kyung’s grounder to shortstop with runners on first and second was misplayed by Lee Do-yoon. A 6-4-3 double play could have ended the inning, but he was content to force out the runner at second base. With runners on first and third, LG took the lead on a single to right-center by Oh Hwan. Oh’s hit was a ball that second baseman Hwang Young-mook was able to catch, but he was unable to make a backhanded catch as he stepped back slightly. It was a tricky short-bound ball, but it was not enough.
In the seventh inning with a 2-1 lead, I made a critical error that gave away a base.
With the bases loaded, pitcher Ryan Weiss threw a fastball and got the ball from catcher Jae-hoon Choi. Shin Min-jae laid down a bunt, causing the entire infield to move and then return to its original position, and first baseman Park Hae-min suddenly jumped to second base. With shortstop Lee Do-yoon’s back to second base and away from the base, Park didn’t miss the throw. Surprised, Weiss tried to throw to second base, but the base was empty. The run ended with Park stealing second base, but it was a mistake by the Hanwha defense.
In the next at-bat, Hong Chang-ki lined a single to right to tie the game at 2-2. However, right fielder Lee Won-seok was unable to get his glove on the ball at first and juggled it. The error was not recorded. With no defensive help, Weiss suffered his first loss in the KBO after allowing five runs on nine hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
Hanwha has committed 62 team errors this year, the third-fewest in the league. However, their DER (Defensive Efficiency Ratio), the percentage of batted balls in play that are put out, ranks eighth (.653). A lot of unearned runs go unrecorded. Unlike hitting, where natural talent is key, defense is an area that can be improved with training.
There’s still a lot of season left, and Hanwha can’t easily give up on the top five, but Kim Kyung-moon often talks about the final camp and says, “I think the team needs a lot of intense training.” Regardless of the outcome of the rest of the season, the Hanwha players will be looking forward to the final camp.
