The sluggishness of Choi Hyung-woo, the undisputed No. 4 hitter of the KIA Tigers, seems to be getting longer. Despite his precarious age, Choi, who plays part-time left field defense, has continued numbers that do not match him as his batting average in recent 10 games has plummeted to 0.125.유흥알바
KIA lost completely against Lotte Giants 0-6 on June 4. KIA lost its second consecutive game due to the loss on the day, maintaining its lead position with 35 wins, one draw and 23 losses in this season. The match gap with LG Twins, who lost on the same day, was maintained at 1.5 games.
On the day, Kia’s batters were tightly sealed by Lotte starter Wilkerson. Wilkerson also became the winning pitcher at the match against Kia Tigers on May 23, by allowing three runs in seven innings and a quality start. On the day of the match, Wilkerson was even more overwhelming to cook KIA batters and posted a shutout of 108 pitches in nine innings.
It was painful for Kia to see that pitcher Lim Ki-young collapsed by allowing nine hits and five runs in 4.1 innings in his return match to the starting lineup. However, the team’s batters were also lethargic. The central batters Na Sung-bum, Choi Hyung-woo and Lee Woo-sung all went hitless.
In particular, Choi’s sluggish performance is frustrating. He has shown a batting average of 0.125 (five hits in 40 times at bat) with one homer, four RBIs, 10 strikeouts and three walks in the last 10 games. In terms of overall performance in this season, Choi had a batting average of 0.263/56/9 homers/46 RBIs/base plus slugging percentage of 0.335/. He has a career-low batting average and on-base percentage indicators. Since joining Kia, the ratio of walks per batter’s box has fallen to 9.6 percent, which had never fallen below 10 percent.
Born in 1983, Choi volunteered to play in the left field defense even at the age of 40. This decision was made to manage the innings pitched by Na Sung-bum, who had been sidelined for a long time due to a hamstring injury. In fact, since Na’s return, Choi has been playing in the left field defense consistently at 1-3 games a week. Chances are high that he has spent considerable amount of physical strength.
However, even though Na Sung-bum and Choi Hyung-woo share defensive innings with each other, it is a concern that synergy effect is rarely achieved in the central lineup. Na Sung-bum has also continued to be frustrated as he has only 3 hits in 20 at-bats in the last five games.
After all, KIA is a team that can overwhelm the opponent only when Na Sung-bum and Choi Hyung-woo hit together. The ideal picture is that the two players succeeded in gaining the upper hand with back-to-back home runs from the first inning against the Doosan Bears in Gwangju on May 26. On the contrary, if both players remain silent together, the overall atmosphere of the team’s batting lineup will inevitably subside.
KIA manager Lee Bum-ho was most wary of June when his team’s batters drew a sharp downward curve in recent years. That was also why he paid attention to physical fitness from the beginning of the season. In fact, Kia seems to be under the biggest threat to its leading team, Mercury, in June. If the team’s batters fail to recover, attention is focusing on whether Na Sung-bum and Choi Hyung-woo, who have recently fallen into recession, will rebound.