The player who came to the trade and established himself as a lucky man left the line. In a moment of crisis, a 37-year-old veteran appears and becomes a “transformer” to fill the vacancy.
Lotte Giants excluded infielder Son Ho-young (30) from the first-tier entry ahead of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League away game against the Samsung Lions at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 4th.
The reason was a hamstring problem in his right side. “Son Ho-young has been in a bad condition since before. He was constantly playing in a tight situation, and when a long hit came out, he got damaged while running, so he seems to have received a signal in the game on the 3rd,” a Lotte source told Star News. Son underwent a thorough examination on the morning of the 4th, and was eventually excluded from the entry due to his poor condition. Son will monitor his condition again in two weeks at the earliest or up to four weeks.
At this point, Son Ho-young’s departure is too fatal for Lotte. Son, who exchanged uniforms with sidearm Woo Kang-hoon (22) through a one-on-one trade with the LG Twins on March 30, had a batting average of 0.320 (32 hits in 100 times at bat), three homers, 18 RBIs, 15 runs scored and six steals, and an OPS of 0.862 in 29 games in the first division. Not many samples, Son was reinvigorating Lotte’s batters by displaying outstanding performances. It was a bonus to expand the scope of players’ appointment by playing all infield positions except for the first baseman.
He looked normal in the beginning after the trade, but he started playing in earnest starting with hitting three hits against Kiwoom in Gocheok on the 14th of last month. Starting with the match against LG in Jamsil on the 17th of the same month, he recorded 14 consecutive hits, and hit three home runs during the same period. In the match against Kiwoom in Sajik on the 2nd, just before his departure, he led his team to a come-from-behind victory with a three-run home run in the fifth inning and a triple in the eighth inning.
Amid Son Ho-young’s performance, Lotte was also on its way to a winning streak mode after recovering from the slump in March and April. His absence is inevitably regrettable. Perhaps it was a situation where you might think, “It’s not going to work out.”
However, when Son Ho-young was absent during the game, a new Lotte hero appeared in the match against Samsung in Daegu on Tuesday. It was veteran Jung Hoon (37). Jung Hoon, who was absent from the starting lineup on the day, replaced Oh Sun-jin, who was Son’s key player, as a pinch hitter in the fifth inning. He struck out in his first at bat, but continued to play as a third baseman. As he did not make major mistakes in defense, he eventually worked with a bat at the last minute.
Lotte faced Kim Jae-yoon, its must-win group, in the top of the ninth inning when the team was struggling 6-6. The first batter, Ko Seung-min, stepped down after hitting a fly ball to shortstop, but the next batter, Victor Reyes, took the opportunity. Jung-hoon, who appeared at the batter’s box after two outs, hit a two-run homer over the left fence by hitting Kim Jae-yoon’s slider. It was the moment when Lotte took the lead. At the bottom of the ninth inning, closer Kim Won-joong gave up a run, but Jung-hoon managed to secure the lead and recorded a finishing hit. 토토사이트
Chung started as a third baseman on the next day. He added an RBI double to seal the victory when his team was leading 5-2, and even scored a sacrifice fly after stealing the third base, contributing to his team’s win for two consecutive days.
It was the first time in six years that Jung Hoon played defense against the third baseman since the match against Sajik Hanwha on June 2, 2018. It could have been awkward, but he filled Son Ho-young’s gap well by playing without any major problems.
This season, Jung Hoon has a batting average of 0.271 with three homers, 15 RBIs and 12 runs scored with an OPS of 0.730 in 33 games. It is a performance that can be ordinary, but he has been showing good performance since mid-April by boosting his batting sense. He gave way to the starting first baseman position, but he is making an invisible contribution to the left field and third basemen, which are unfamiliar positions. He is like a transformer robot, which can transform into various forms.
Jung visited Kang Jung-ho (37), a former major leaguer who was a teammate of Hyundai Unicorns, along with his close senior Lee Dae-ho (42) and junior Han Dong-hee (25), to fix his batting. “I learned good things from (Kang) Jung-ho, but 10 days gave me great motivation as I am getting older. It was a time for me to grow my mind, not skills,” Jung said. Such efforts are paying off.
Ahead of the opening, Jung-hoon said, “There were times when I couldn’t play like this even in my early 30s, but I showed off a bit at that time. That’s what’s passed on to the squad,” and confessed, “When I got older and saw my friends in their early 30s do that, I thought it was really bad. I know how I feel, but I didn’t think showing off was helpful.” Accepting his position as a veteran and starting the season is returning to a better form.
