LG second baseman Seo Geon-chang recently had time to reorganize and from the first game he started, he lowered his head due to a defensive mistake. Director Yeom Gyeong-yeop, who led the heyday of Seo Geon-chang during the past Nexen era, is back in spirit and supporting Seo Geon-chang’s comeback, but so far it doesn’t seem easy.
The match between스포츠토토 LG and Samsung was held at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 14th. Seo Geon-chang started as second baseman 7 times. It was the first start in 9 games, 15 days after the match against Jamsil KIA on April 29th. In the meantime, Seo Geon-chang, whose batting was stagnant, was given time to reorganize through training and rest.
Director Yeom Gyeong-yeop said in early May, “I gave Seo Geon-chang about a week of maintenance time.” In the meantime, second baseman Kim Min-seong started.
Kim Min-seong, who had a lot of defensive innings by filling up the gap left by shortstop Oh Ji-hwan’s injury at the beginning of the season, played second base and was silent in the last three games without a hit. Against Samsung on the 14th, Kim Min-seong took a break, and Seo Kun-chang returned to the starting lineup as second baseman.
However, Seo Kun-chang made a fatal error in the first defense in the bottom of the first inning. Leading batsman Lee Jae-hyeon followed the hit ball to the outfield and caught it before dropping it. As he followed his batted ball back, it was a ball that should have been caught enough, although there was interference from the daytime sunlight.
He then ran to the second base base for Kang Han-wool’s ground ball, grabbed it, pulled it out of the glove, and dropped it. The record was an infield hit, and it was not an ordinary hit, but it was a defense that left a sense of regret.
LG second baseman Seo Geon-chang drops a batted ball to Lee Jae-hyeon in the first inning against Samsung on the 14th. / Spotify relay screen
It wasn’t over. The ball hit by Ja-wook Koo at 1st, 1st and 2nd base rolled all the way to the fence on the right side. Both runners scored and Koo Ja-wook ran to third base. Seo Kun-chang, who started a relay play, threw the ball to third base, but was hit by Koo Ja-wook and refracted, so third baseman Moon Bo-kyung could not catch it and fell into the foul area. It became Seo Geon-chang’s mistake in throwing out his luck. Koo Ja-wook jumped home, and Moon Bo-kyung’s home throw also missed, leading to 0-3 in an instant.
Seo Kun-chang, who recorded 2 mistakes that day, recorded 9 mistakes, the most disgraceful record in the league. It is tied for first place with NC Kim Joo-won. Kim Joo-won recorded 276⅓ innings as a shortstop and Seo Geon-chang recorded 210 innings as a second baseman. Seo Kun-chang’s fielding percentage of .919 is the lowest among infielders who have played more than 200 innings in the KBO League this season.
Seo Geon-chang was also silent in the attack with no hits in 3 at-bats. There were two infield grounders and one strikeout. In the end, when LG turned 6-5 at the beginning of the 7th inning, Min-Sung Kim was replaced at the end of the 7th inning to strengthen the defense.
Seo Kun-chang’s batting average for the season is .207 (18 hits in 87 at-bats) and an OPS of .590. His batting average in his last 10 games is 6.3 Lee (1-for-16). The last hit was against KIA on April 28th. He fell 5 short of the regulation at-bat in his recent over 10 days playing as a substitute. His batting average is 207. He is ranked 57th out of 59 players who have filled the required at-bats.
Director Yeom hopes that Seo Geon-chang will survive in the karate. While preparing for this season, coach Yeom’s first plan was for Seo Geon-chang to be the starting pitcher at second base. Director Yeom said in the middle of last week, “We are giving enough time to prepare now. He will prepare and give Geon Changi a chance again when Minseong is tired. Calculations stand only when the one-year frame basically returns. But when he pushes his limits, he has no choice but to change plans.”
Seo Kun-chang was traded from Kiwoom to LG ahead of the second half of the 2021 season. In the 2021 season, he finished the season with a batting average of 2.25 3 Lee in 144 games, and last year, he had a batting average of 2.2 2 4 Lee in 77 games. He qualified as a free agent, but did not apply for two consecutive years. This year is the third opportunity.