The Samsung Lions have a new offensive option. The stunt of starting three catchers at once worked.
Samsung put all three catchers on the roster in the starting lineup against the KT Wiz in Suwon on April 18. The team introduced a “three-catcher lineup,” with designated hitter Kang Min-ho (38), first baseman Kim Jae-sung (27), and catcher Kim Tae-gun (34) batting in the four-to-six spot in the center field.
The reason was to strengthen the offense. Samsung, which was batting .255 (8th in the league) with a .256 (8th) batting average with runners in scoring position in June before this game, came up with a plan to utilize all three catchers with punch. While Kim Tae-gun leads the team in batting average in June (0.389), Kang Min-ho (0.308) and Kim Jae-sung (0.292) have also been hitting well. In addition, Kim is batting over 1.000 (3-for-5, 3 doubles, 5 RBI) and Kang is batting .364 (22-for-8, 1 home run, 8 RBI).
However, there are only two spots available for a catcher and two designated hitters. There was no way to utilize all three players at once if they were limited to catchers, so we came up with the idea of playing Kim Jae-sung at first base. With Oh Jae-il, the main first baseman, out of the first team due to his poor hitting, there was an internal consensus to use Kim Jae-sung, who can play first base defense, to bolster the offense. Defensive coach Son Ju-in led Kim Jae-sung’s first base defense training for several days. The deal was finalized when Son recommended the first baseman to manager Park Jin-man.
The result was a huge success. On the 17th against Suwon KT, Kim started at first base and went 3-for-4 with a home run to energize the team’s bats. Against KT on the 18th, he had two hits and two RBIs. His teammate Kang Min-ho went 1-for-3 with an RBI, and Kim Tae-gun had two hits, including a triple. The three catchers combined for seven hits and three RBIs. In total, the catchers accounted for half of Samsung’s 14 hits and six runs on the day. Thanks to the catchers, Samsung won 7-5 and snapped a five-game losing streak.토토사이트
‘Catcher’s Kingdom’ Samsung has been utilizing the ‘three-catcher system’ since last year to solve the problem of safety. This year, the team is maximizing its effectiveness by using it aggressively in the outfield as well. Samsung will continue to use this system for the time being until Oh Jae-il, who was sent down to the second team, regains his hitting touch and returns.