Lotte has failed to advance to the postseason again, but Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung set up an elite lineup in the match against KIA in Gwangju on Saturday. All the main players that led Lotte’s lineup this season have been listed in the lineup. “It’s going to be normal,” Kim said. “I can make some changes after checking individual players’ physical conditions, but I will do my best for the fans until the end.”
This could be a boon to Victor Reyes, a 31-year-old foreign hitter who is challenging historical records. If a large number of backup players join the lineup, the team will have more chances to check Reyes. However, if elite pitchers move forward and backward, pitchers will inevitably face more situations wherein they cannot avoid Reyes. The batting order also increased. Reyes entered the batter’s box as many times as he did in the fourth batting order this year, followed by the third. However, following a match against KT on Monday, Reyes pulled one or two batters later on the day. This means that he should challenge the record as much as he wants.
A historic achievement is imminent. Reyes has a batting average of 0.353, 15 homers, 107 RBIs, 196 hits, and 0.909 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in 140 games of this season as of Saturday. His outstanding ability to produce hits is shining as he meets his sincerity. Reyes ranks second in batting average this season, but he has 196 hits as a result of playing in all 140 games his team played. He has four more to go until his dream of making 200 hits. Lotte still has four more games to play. It seems highly likely that he will occupy the 200-hit zone.
Reyes added two more hits in the game against KIA at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on Saturday, further raising its possibility of making 200 hits. Notably, his hit in the third inning was a timely hit with two RBIs, which leads to his team’s finishing hit. With runners on the second and third bases with no outs in the third inning when the score was tying 1-1, his team made a timely hit by splitting the infield in half and moving to the center field.
He is continuously climbing the ranks of the most hits in a single season of the KBO league. Now he is tying for fourth in the list of the most hits in a single season. He is on par with Lee Jong-beom’s record in 1994. Now only two players are ahead of him. Jose Miguel Fernandez of the Doosan Bears had 197 hits in 2019 and 199 hits in 2020. This is the second and third place record ever. If he exceeds this record, only Seo Geon-chang (current KIA, then Nexen Heroes) will remain. In 2014, Seo made the only 200-hit season (201 hits) in the KBO league history. Reyes will challenge this record.
Since the time of the camp, he had high expectations that he would produce hits. Power is not that noticeable, but he showed good timing to hit both fastballs and breaking balls. On top of that, he didn’t have a lot of ups and downs with the switch heater. One hit was literally incredibly consistent. There were only eight cases where Reyes had no hit in two consecutive games this year. He had no hit in three consecutive games.
In fact, as the challenge of 200 hits itself is a big topic in the league, it can be a big burden for players. It often takes nine hits in a broader sense. Fernandez was also considered a very likely candidate to achieve 200 hits in 2020, but his probability dropped sharply as he recorded no hits in his 139th and 140th games. He only had four hits in his last seven games. In the end, he had 199 hits, which was a disappointment. Seo Geon-chang’s good pace in 2014 dropped a little before reaching 200 hits, and in the last four games, he had five hits, which was below his average. He barely exceeded 200 hits in the last game. Reyes may be under that pressure as he has come this far.
Reyes, however, was confident that such attention would give him energy rather than pressure. Reyes said, “I have recently felt that fans give me a lot of interest. I am grateful to be able to play baseball with such interest. It seems that a lot of attention from fans increases my concentration rather than comes as a burden. I want to focus on the rest of the games and be a joy to the fans,” he said. “I was very grateful to the coaches for their consideration of batting order so that they could challenge the KBO record. I will focus on whatever batting order I am in and show good results,” he said, vowing to give a last-minute spurt.
The game against Doosan that will take place at Sajik Stadium on Sunday will likely be a watershed moment. Kwak Bin will be the starting pitcher for Doosan on the day. Having yet to confirm its fourth place, Doosan is expected to stage an all-out war. As the team rested on the previous day (April 25), it is possible to mobilize all members of the bullpen. Reyes posted a fairly high batting average of 0.333 against Doosan this year, but was lower than his average (.353). Kwak posted a batting average of 0.286.
If he can add a hit at the game against Lotte, he will play against teams that have been ranked first, and hence has a chance to meet relatively easy opponents. He will meet NC and KIA at home on July 27 and 28. After a break, he will have the final game of the season against NC at Changwon on October 1. Reyes posted a batting average of 0.370 against KIA and a batting average of 0.293 against NC. When the moment of great achievement will come is expected to be the last point Lotte will pay attention to this season. 먹튀검증
