Jamsil KT-LG exhibition on the 18th. A big change was seen in KT’s starting lineup. Anthony Alford, a foreign hitter who has never been left out of the center batting line since the opening, was deployed as the sixth hitter and center fielder.
Since the start, Alford has been the third hitter most of the time. The 2nd and 5th hitters each played one game. The fact that Alford’s batting order came down to number 6 on this day stemmed from KT manager Lee Kang-cheol’s calculation to lighten his burden.
Since the opening, Alford has been playing under intensive checks from the opponent’s mound. During the absence of Park Byung-ho, the main hitter, as well as key hitters such as Hwang Jae-gyun and Bae Jung-dae, were left out of the lineup, he had to act as a fixer every time. Until last April, he broke through the difficulties head-on with a batting average of 0.368, 32 hits, 3 homers, and 10 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.002. However, the strike index dropped sharply in May, probably in the aftermath of the March of Suffering in April. As of the 17th, it was sluggish with a batting average of 0.152, 5 hits, 1 home run and 3 RBIs in 10 games in May.메이저놀이터
As a result, coach Lee chose to temporarily move Alford to a position with less pressure. In the match against LG that day, KT formed the top batting order with No. 1 Kang Baek-ho as the leadoff, No. 2 Kim Sang-soo, No. 3 Moon Sang-cheol, No. 4 Park Byeong-ho, and No. 5 Seong-woo Jang.
Director Lee said, “I looked at the indicators after May. It seemed necessary to give them a little bit of leeway by changing the batting order,” he said.
On this day, KT removed Jo Yong-ho, an outfielder with a bad hip joint, from the entry and raised Kim Min-hyeok. Kim Min-hyeok started as the 7th hitter and center fielder.