Professional Baseball kt Leaps to 3rd Place
Professional Baseball kt, "Lowest Until 50 Games", Leaps to 3rd Place With Great Counterattack in Summer
kt, which stayed in 10th until June 5th, as the biggest variable in the top ranking fight
kt wiz was the lowest (10th) in the 2023 Korean Professional Baseball KBO League with a win rate of 0.375 (18 wins, 30 losses, 2 draws) until 50 games were played.
However, after winning 30 wins (13 losses, 0.698 win rate) in 48 games, he climbed to third place.
From the match against NC Dinos in Changwon on July 28th to the match against Doosan Bears in Jamsil on July 4th, they continued their 7-game winning streak.
Having succeeded in the "Summer Counterattack", kt aims to reach the top ranks.
At the beginning of this season, kt struggled with injuries to key players.
Ju Kwon (elbow) and Min-Soo Kim (shoulder), who were the two pillars of the bullpen, left due to injury before the start, and native ace So Joon So-jun was operated on due to ruptured ligaments in his elbow.
In the other lineup, key players such as Bae Jeong-dae (left back fracture), Park Byeong-ho (back thigh muscle), Hwang Jae-kyun (toe fracture), Kang Baek-ho (accumulated fatigue), and Lee Ho-yeon (nose bone fracture) missed one after another.
So Joon Sohn is unable to play this season due to elbow surgery, and Baekho Kang is also going back and forth between the 1st team and the rehabilitation team.
However, after returning, Park Byeong-ho, Bae Jung-dae, Hwang Jae-kyun, and Lee Ho-yeon continued to play an active role at bat, and the starting lineup centered on Koh Young-pyo continued to pitch well, and kt rose steeply.
From April to May, kt"s team OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) was 0.674, 7th, and the team"s ERA was 4.67, the lowest.
Since June 1st, kt"s team OPS is tied for 2nd with 0.741, and the team"s ERA is 1st with 3.57.
In particular, the starting lineup, which boasted a sense of stability with an ERA of 3.16, won all of them while winning 7 consecutive victories.
Koh Young-pyo, Wes Benjamin, Bae-seong Bae, and Eom Sang-baek were joined by William Cuevas, who was “re-recruited” as a substitute for Boschul-seo, completing the “selection baseball” pursued by coach Lee Kang-cheol.
Since June, Ko Young-pyo (6-2, ERA 1.58), Benjamin (5-2, ERA 2.65), Bae Seong (4-2, ERA 3.26), Eom Sang-baek (2-2, ERA 3.26), Cuevas ( 4 wins, ERA of 3.88) continues solid pitching.
Veterans such as Hwang Jae-kyun (batting average 0.343, 2 homers, 20 RBIs), Kim Sang-soo (batting average 0.287), and Park Byung-ho (batting average 0.267, 6 homers, 32 RBIs) took the lead, while Kim Min-hyeok (batting average 0.297, 6 stolen bases) and Lee Ho-yeon ( As the batting average of 0.363) strengthened, the batting line also became strong.
kt was in 10th place until June 5th.
However, August 5th was greeted with "3rd place".
The 2023 KBO League regular season with about two months left, the biggest variable in the top ranking fight is "kt"s run".
Even when they were in the bottom ranks, coach Lee Kang-cheol said, "Our team is struggling, but it"s not the power to stay in the bottom ranks."
Coach Lee delivered a positive message to the team, and the players created momentum.