Park Seung-wook (30), who started at third base in place of Lotte Giants’ foreign hitter Niko Gudrum (31), performed well in both offense and defense.
Park went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored in the Giants’ home game against the KT Wiz of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on April 27 at 5 p.m., starting as the No. 8 hitter and third baseman.
With the win, Park’s season batting average rose to 0.290 from 0.285. Despite Park’s performance, Lotte lost 1-2 to the KT WIZ.
Lotte had lost six straight games prior to this one, most notably on April 26, when Goodrum, who played third base, committed three throwing errors.
In the end, Lotte used Park Seung-wook at third base to replace Goodrum. Prior to this game, Park was hitting .285 with a .744 OPS and 21 RBIs. He has a weakness against left-handed pitching, but has been worth his salt as an infield utility.
Park Seung-wook also did his part at third base in his first appearance in 18 days. In the top of the third inning, he made a solid catch of Kim Min-hyuk’s fastball. After that, Park continued to make several clean defensive plays without wavering.
His batting was also good, as he hit a clean single to right in his first at-bat in the third inning. It was the first hit of the game for Lotte. Park Seung-wook then stole second base when Noh Jin-hyuk came to bat. However, he was unable to score due to the silence of the subsequent batters.
Keeping the momentum going, Park struck again in his second at-bat. After a six-pitch battle with William Cuevas, he took a fastball and lined it to center field. Two batters later, Park crossed home plate on Jung Hoon’s double.
Lotte has been plagued with third base issues all season. Han Dong-hee, who was the starting third baseman, suffered the worst slump of her career, batting .213 with a .558 OPS, four home runs and 28 RBIs. At third base, she also committed seven errors, resulting in a .945 fielding percentage.
In the middle of the season, 먹튀검증 Lotte brought in foreign hitter Gudrum to replace Han in the lineup, but he also struggled at the plate. Despite being a foreigner, he hasn’t hit a home run in 122 at-bats. In addition, his defense was shaky on the 25th and 26th.
This is when Park Seung-wook stepped in at third base and performed impressively. Can Park establish himself as a viable alternative to Lotte’s hot corner? This game was enough to give him a pass.
-Suhan Issa: Now that’s an issue maker. A person who, for better or worse, stands out so much that they deserve to be the center of attention.