"I'm not 100 percent, but I have to play"
Doosan big man Kim Jae-hwan out of the starting lineup
NC Dinos' Park Gun-woo, who has been suffering from a bad knee, will start at third base in the first game of the wild-card deciding series.
NC head coach Kang Myung-ho named his starting lineup for the first game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank Shootout KBO Postseason Wild Card Decision against the Doosan Bears at Changwon NC Park on April 19 as Son Ah-seop (designated hitter), Park Min-woo (second base), Park Gun-woo (right field), Jason Martin (center field), Kwon Hee-dong (left field), Kim Joo-won (shortstop), Seo Ho-chul (third base), Kim Hyung-joon (catcher), and Do Tae-hoon (first base).
The most prominent player is Park Geun-woo. After complaining of knee pain on the 16th against the Gwangju KIA Tigers, Park was dropped from the first team roster on the 17th, the last day of the regular season, and received an injection.
"I don't think he's fully recovered, but he still has to play somehow," Kang said, adding, "We'll see how he is during the game."
It's also noteworthy that the team chose to start Kim Hyung-jun, who is playing fall baseball for the first time, instead of the more experienced Park Se-hyuk.
"I think he has better chemistry with (starter) Tanner Tully than Park Se-hyuk," Kang said. "We thought about it, but we felt more comfortable with the way things were going," Kang said, explaining that Hyung-jun showed better at-bats at the end of the season.
On the decision to play Do Tae-hoon at first base instead of Oh Young-soo, he said, "I thought we needed more stability in defense than offense. Oh Young-soo will be utilized as a pinch hitter depending on the game situation."
Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop lined up the starting lineup as Jung Soo-bin (center fielder), Kim Jae-ho (shortstop), Jose Rojas (designated hitter), Yang Ji (catcher), Yang Seok-hwan (first base), Kang Seung-ho (second base), Kim In-tae (left field), Heo Kyung-min (third base), and Cho Su-hyun (right field).
One notable change was the use of veteran infielder Kim Jae-ho as the No. 2 hitter. "It was a big game, so I thought defense would be very important," Lee said. The shortstop is the commander of the field, so it's an even more important position," said Lee. "I thought the experienced Kim Jae-ho would do a better job than the inexperienced Park Joon-young."
Outfielder Kim Jae-hwan was left out of the starting lineup.
He suffered from a severe batting slump this season, hitting just .220. In the last 10 games of the season, he batted just 0.080 and hasn't played since April 14 against the LG Twins due to pain in his right hand.
Lee said, "He didn't play a lot of games at the end of the season, so if he suddenly started, I thought it would be a problem with his game feeling. His hand is feeling better, but it's still not perfect enough to play a full game," Lee said. 카지노사이트존