LG Twins catcher Heo Do-hwan (40) spent a splendid 10 days in the professional baseball league. It was the hottest 10 days in his third year playing for the LG Twins.안전놀이터
LG’s main catcher Park Dong-won recently returned after rehabilitation after missing from the first-team entry for 10 days due to a knee injury.
While Park Dong-won was absent, Kim Bum-suk and Heo Do-hwan, two promising players in their second year, took charge of the home turf. Kim started in the match against Kiwoom on the 14th and the match against Kiwoom on the 16th, and worked with foreign pitchers Kelly and Ens. As the two foreign pitchers were sluggish, LG suffered consecutive losses.
Veteran Heo Do-hwan started nine consecutive games from the KT match on the 17th to the NC match on the 26th to keep his home ground.
Manager Yeom Kyung-yeop tried to make Kim Bum-suk experience as a catcher, but he still lacked experience such as a pitcher lead, so he left Heo Do-hwan to push ahead with nine consecutive games. Kim Bum-suk, who played as a designated hitter and first baseman in the second division due to shoulder rehabilitation in his first year of debut, was the first catcher this year.
If the ranking at the end of the season was decided to some extent, he would have continued to give Kim Bum-suk a chance, but one win was more important than a young player’s experience when the ranking battle was fierce. Pitchers are also comfortable throwing a battery with an experienced and stable veteran.
Along with a stable pitching lead, Hur also performed well in offense, recording six hits in 25 times at bat (batting average of .24) and six RBIs during nine games. Notably, he led his team to a decisive win against NC on the 25th.
LG had a chance to load the bases with no outs in the second inning when its team was losing 0-2. Koo Bon-hyuk drew a walk to tie the game, and Heo Do-hwan entered the batter’s box for the first time. Heo beat NC starter Lee Yong-joon’s fastball (143 kilometers) at the full count, and turned the game around with a three-run double that cut the left-center gap. LG won the game 10-6.
After joining Doosan in 2007, Heo became a free agent after the 2021 season and signed a two-year, W400 million contract with LG. After his two-year contract ended, he signed a W100 million annual salary contract with the team ahead of this season.
In 2022, he played 64 games (27 starts) with the LG Twins, and played 254.2 innings in defense, and in 47 games (21 starts) last year, he played 212 innings. This year, he played 128.2 innings in 25 games (15 starts).
Heo is said to be playing as a starting pitcher the most since Jang Sung-woo, the main catcher when he was out due to injury when he was playing for the KT in 2021. When he was playing for the KT in 2021, he played 62 games (33 starts).
Last year, Heo had nine hits in 64 at-bats for a .141 batting average, and as of Thursday this season, he has 10 hits in 47 at-bats for a .213 batting average. He has already exceeded the number of hits he had last year.
Park Dong-won returned to the first division entry against Hanwha on the 23rd. As he still has to be careful about his knee condition, he played four consecutive games as a designated hitter.
Park started as a designated hitter at the match against NC Dinosaurs on Wednesday, but played defense in the first inning wearing a catcher’s mask in the ninth inning. He finished the game by playing with closing pitcher Yoo Young-chan. He will be able to play as a catcher from Friday.