“We shouldn’t have any injuries now.”
KT Wiz head coach Lee Kang-cheol looks back at the beginning of the season, when the team was plagued by injuries.
Since the start of the season, KT has lost key players such as Choi Jae-dae and Hwang Jae-gyun to injuries, both big and small. Last year, KT managed to survive a similar situation and finished the regular season in fourth place, but this season, the team’s problems deepened as they slipped to the bottom of the standings.안전놀이터
Naturally, it was up to the remaining players to fill the void, and many opportunities fell to non-starters.
When asked by reporters about the depth ahead of the 10th game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the Lotte Giants at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on Tuesday, Lee Kang-cheol reflected, “I can say that now, but it’s a situation where players who didn’t get many opportunities as backups were forced to go out (as starters).”
The player Lee was referring to was rookie outfielder Jung Jun-young. Selected by KT with the 20th pick in the second round of the 2023 rookie draft, Jeong started playing in the first team in mid-April and was in the starting lineup for the entire three-game series against the Suwon Samsung Lions from April 16-18. If the team was at full strength, it would have been difficult for Jung to get a chance to play in the first team, let alone start.
“He went through a lot of trial and error in the beginning and met a lot of professional pitchers,” said Lee, who praised the youngster, “but now he seems to be a little more relaxed when he plays.”
Of course, it’s true that the situation is better than in April and May, when a lot of backup players started, but the team is still not 100%. There are quite a few players who are missing, such as Choi Min-joon, who was confirmed to be done for the season early, and Kang Baek-ho and Cho Myeong-ho, who are down to the second team.
Coach Lee Kang-chul said, “We’ve had a lot of injuries, so we need to have no injuries now. “In the beginning, when injuries came out, we used them little by little because we didn’t have too many players even if they were in bad shape, but I think that became a poison. It’s better for me to return to full strength now,” he said.
Kang Baek-ho, a key player for the team, also has no intention of being called up early. “I’m not sure because I haven’t been briefed, but I think he’ll have to stay for about 10 more days. I’m not sure because I haven’t been briefed, but I think I’ll have to stay for about 10 days.” He said that he doesn’t plan to rush him.
“The bottom line is that we have to play baseball with players who are not sick. It’s hard to carry them. Lee Kang-chul said, “The bottom line is that we have to play baseball with players who are not sick. Now that we’re somewhat injury-free, I think we’re at a point where we can play stably.”