NC’s top outfield prospect Oh Young-soo (23) got his first chance to start in the first team.
Against Changwon Hanwha on the 16th, NC put out the following starting lineup against pitcher Lee Tae-yang: Son As-seop (designated hitter), Park Min-woo (second base), Park Gun-woo (right field), Jason Martin (center field), Kwon Hee-dong (left field), Oh Young-soo (first base), Do Tae-hoon (third base), Ahn Jung-yeol (catcher), and Kim Joo-won (shortstop). The starting pitcher was left-hander Choi Sung-young.
Oh Young-soo, who was added to the first team roster the day before (May 15) and drew a walk as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, was named to the starting lineup as the sixth batter. It has been 89 days since his last appearance on May 19 against Changwon Samsung Electronics. His first-team stats this season are 2-for-20 (99 at-bats) with three home runs, 14 RBIs and a .647 OPS in 34 games.
In a pregame interview, NC manager Kang Myung-ho said about Oh’s start, “There is a part of the batting lineup where the concentration of the bottom of the lineup has dropped significantly. I think we need to make some changes,” he said, adding, “Yoon Hyung-jun’s physical condition and stamina have dropped a bit.”
After Oh Young-soo was sent down to the second team at the end of May, Yoon took the opportunity to play first base. In 64 games this season, Yoon is batting 2-for-7 (49-for-180) with five home runs, 26 RBIs and a .742 OPS, but his pace has slowed to 1-for-5 (5-for-33) with no home runs and two RBIs in his last 10 games.안전놀이터
Shortstop Kim Joo-won, who has struggled in the second half of the season with a 1-for-196 batting average, remained in the starting lineup. Manager Kang Myung-ho said, “We’re trying to get out of the slump by modifying and supplementing our batting form. There is a slump because the results are not coming, but he has to find his form through the game. It’s not a situation where you can take him out of the starting lineup.”