“We need our key hitters to go out and hit, even in the sixth spot.”

This season, the SSG Landers have had a total of 17 batters batting in the sixth spot, including starters and substitutes. Of these, SSG coach Kim Won-hyung has started Park Sung-hyung the most (30 games-121 at-bats). Compared to the 1-4 spots, which were relatively static, the 6th spot was a problematic one. As a result, the batters batting sixth combined for a .273 batting average and .362 on-base percentage.

This season, it’s been even worse. Han Yoo-seom, who led the batting order last year as the No. 4 hitter, has been struggling this season, so the team has been batting him in the No. 6 spot a lot, and that hasn’t worked either, forcing the team to pull Southern players from other spots in the batting order. Kim emphasized the importance of the sixth spot, saying, “In my experience, chances don’t just come to the cleanup trio, but there are many situations where there are runners on base in front of the sixth spot,” but when that didn’t work out, he needed a different approach.

Kim’s approach to the batting order is based on the opposing pitcher, their record, and the hitting conditions on the day, and the results have been outstanding for Choi Joo-hwan (0.353-OPS 1.303), Oh Tae-gon (0.400-1.132), and Kim Sung-hyun (0.344-0.854). Kang Jin-seong, who was acquired in a trade this season to bolster the right-handed batting order, also performed well in the sixth spot with a 0.400 batting average and 0.978 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage).

More recently, Han Yoo-seom and Jeon Eui-san, who struggled in the early part of the season, have also contributed from the sixth spot. Han Yoo-seom went 2-for-4 against the Doosan Bears in Jamsil on May 25, while Jeon went 2-for-5 with a game-winning hit against Doosan on May 27. After hitting double-digit home runs (13) for the first time in his career last year, Jeon struggled early in the season as a result of more demanding pitching and a desire for long balls, but his recent focus on making contact led to a strong performance (2-for-1 with a home run, three walks and two RBIs), including the game-winning home run against Doosan on the 26th, which earned him a move from the eighth to the sixth spot in the order, as determined by Kim.먹튀검증

Speaking about the batting order ahead of their game against the Incheon Kiwoom Heroes, which was canceled due to rain on the 29th, Kim said, “Our batting order hasn’t been fixed this year. At first, (Han) Yoo Seom-i used to bat there, but after his batting started to deteriorate, we tried to focus on players who were in good shape that day. “Then, (Park) Sung-han and (Kim) Sung-hyun batted there when they were in good shape, and they all performed well. (Jeon) Eui-san also recently improved his batting form, so he batted there that day (27th),” Kim explained. Kim also emphasized that the sixth spot in the batting order is actually where the team’s main batsmen should be batting.