Kim Jae-ho’s successor is not the only problem anymore. Doosan Bears’ fielder team urgently needs a full-scale generational change.
Doosan finished the regular season of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League by ranking fourth (74 wins, 68 losses and 2 draws), and was eliminated in the post-season wild card game for two consecutive years. Doosan made the fall baseball stage for two consecutive years following last year, but failed to overcome the barrier of the wild card game to finish the season early.
The biggest headache for Doosan this season was for foreign pitchers. They accompanied Raul Alcantara and Brandon Waddell, who had 24 wins last season, for one more season, but their plans got tangled as the two players failed to display their performance in previous years due to poor performance and injury. Alcantara became an out-of-the-box player after the first half with 12 games of two wins and two losses and an ERA of 4.76 and Brandon posted an ERA of 7 wins and four losses and an ERA of 3.12 in 14 games.
Ahead of the second half of the season, Doosan acquired Jordan Balazovic instead of Alcantara and signed Keisho Shirakawa as a substitute for injured Brandon for a six-week contract. However, Balazovic dropped his head as he slumped in 11 games with two wins and six losses and an earned run average of 4.34 and Shirakawa with two wins and three losses and an earned run average of 6.03 in seven games. Four foreign pitchers won a total of 13 games in 44 games, resulting in collapse of the starting lineup and overload of the bullpen.
While foreign pitchers ruined the regular-season farming, the silence of the batters was fatal in the postseason. Doosan lost to KT Wiz 0-4 in the first round and 0-1 in the second round. It had a terrible time, posting the disgrace of being scoreless in two games and 18 innings for the first time in the wild card game.
Doosan pulled out the same lineup in two wild card games. Jung Soo-bin (center fielder), Kim Jae-ho (striker), Jarod Young (left fielder), Kim Jae-hwan (designated hitter), Yang Seok-hwan (first baseman), Kang Seung-ho (second baseman), Heo Kyung-min (third baseman), Kim Ki-yeon (catcher), and Cho Soo-haeng (right fielder) held their two consecutive games without changing their defensive positions. The result was a total of 10 hits, 0 walks, and 20 strikeouts in two games. As the batters were in a group slump, they failed to score points, and they could hardly beat them.
Doosan’s batting lineup’s shocking performance is all the more regrettable considering their ransom. Jung Soo-bin is worth 5.6 billion won for six years, Kim Jae-hwan is worth 11.5 billion won for four years, Yang Seok-hwan is worth 7.8 billion won for six years, Heo Kyung-min is worth 8.5 billion won for seven years, and Yang Eui-ji is worth 15.2 billion won for four years. The total amount of the five free agents is 48.6 billion won, but the effect of spending money was not seen at all at an important moment.
It was not like there was a backup fielder who could be an alternative when the expensive players faced a slump. Infielders Lee Yoo-chan, Park Joon-young and Yeo Dong-gun got a chance as pinch hitters in the wild card match, while catcher Park Min-joon, infielder Jeon Min-jae and outfielder Kim Dae-han failed to make a single at-bat. It was a scene that revealed the devastation of the Futures players due to the unsavory incident of the former captain at the beginning of the season.
After the game, coach Lee Seung-yeop also expressed regret over the poor performance of his team’s batters. According to an interview with Newsis, Lee Seung-yeop said, “The team failed to score points in the two games. The team ended the game scoreless without a single goal. What matters is hitting well and running well, and the cohesiveness that one does not miss when a chance arises. However, he had a lot of strikeouts and couldn’t play baseball in detail.” 메이저놀이터
“I enjoyed playing long balls during this year’s regular season, but I had a hard time because I didn’t have long balls during the post season. For next year, it is important to play baseball that matches situations such as aggressive baseball and detailed baseball,” coach Lee Seung-yeop said. “Veterans such as Kim Jae-hwan, Kim Jae-ho, Yang Seok-hwan, and Jung Soo-bin played this year, and young players have yet to display their skills. The skills gap between the main and backup players has also widened significantly.”
With fall baseball coming to an end in vain, Doosan now faces a task to deal with the aging of its batters. Almost all of Doosan’s main fielders except for foreigners Jared were in their 30s in the wild card game. catcher Kim Ki-yeon (27) was the only one in his 20s, and even that, the main catcher Yang Eui-ji was absent, which was largely due to the aftermath. In fact, Kang Seung-ho, who was born in 1994, was in such a bad situation that he was the youngest member of the main fielders’ group.
Doosan is striving to strengthen its infield center line by selecting Park Joon-soon, the largest fielder, in the first round of the 2025 KBO League Rookie Draft in September. The search for a successor to shortstop Kim Jae-ho, 39, has yet to be completed. However, most positions, not just shortstop but both inside and outside, are now on the verge of collapse. Generational change of Doosan’s batters has become a necessity, not an option. The revival of baseball is urgently needed.
