No matter how much catchers say that defense is more important than bat skills, SSG Landers is a team that has a lot of worries about the weak attack power of catchers.
SSG catchers who started from 2020 to this year had a batting average of 0.219 and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.607, ranking 9th in the league.
Lotte Giants (catcher batting average 0.207, OPS 0.596) sharing the same concerns was the only team in the league with weaker catcher offense than SSG.
However, there is little hope that this year will be different.
While the main catcher Lee Jae-won went down to the 2nd team due to an extreme sluggish batting average of 0.043 (1 hit in 23 at-bats), Kim Min-sik and Cho Hyeong-woo hit a ball each in the lower batting line.
Cho Hyeong-woo, a promising catcher who was nominated in the 2nd round of the 2021 season, posted a batting average of 0.235 (4 hits in 17 at-bats), 1 home run and 3 RBIs in 7 games this season.
In particular, on the 2nd against kt wiz in Incheon, he hit his first home run against kt lefty ace Wes Benjamin.
And the next day, on the 3rd, against kt in Incheon, Kim Min-sik reported a home run for the season ㅋㅋㅋ벳.
Kim Min-sik hit a 1-run home run against kt So-Jun Sohn in the 3rd inning to return the game to 1-1, and in the 8th inning he hit a 1-run wedge double to make the score 5-3.
Thanks to Kim Min-sik’s performance, SSG defeated kt 5-3 and ended their two-game losing streak.
The last case of an SSG catcher crossing the fence in two consecutive games can only be found three years ago.
On May 30 and 31, 2020, Lee Heung-ryeon started a home run two days in a row against the Incheon Hanwha Eagles.
That year, Lee Heung-ryun hit three home runs, two of which he drove over two days.
From 2014 to 2019, after hitting double-digit homers in 5 out of 6 seasons, Lee Jae-won’s slugging power decreased, and SSG was deeply troubled. It is a meaningful catcher’s home run chorus.
After Lee Jae-won went down to the 2nd team, Kim Min-sik, who plays an active role as the main housekeeper of SSG, has a batting average of 0.238 (10 hits in 42 at-bats), 1 home run, and 5 RBIs.
Kim Min-sik turned the ball to the coach, saying, “Thanks to Coach Jin-young Lee’s advice to attack the inside ball, he hit a home run today.”
And Guillermo Heredia, who hit a come-from-behind three-run homer in the 7th inning, showed a more decisive scene.
SSG, who achieved the first ‘Wire-to-Wire’ championship in KBO history last season, is in the midst of competing for the top ranks this season as well, running second in the league with 16 wins and 10 losses.
SSG will be able to solve the game much easier if they come out one by one like now in the catcher batting order pointed out as a weakness.
A catcher who works well on offense tends to carry that momentum to the defense.
Kim Min-sik promised, “As the current team is in the top ranks, I will continue to try to maintain good performance.”