The Samsung Lions, who are tied for first place in the exhibition game, faced a major bad news: the departure of the starting center fielder. Since a long-term absence is unavoidable, it is a big task to find a replacement player until the start of the regular season.
Since last season, Samsung’s main center fielder has been Kim Hyun-joon (21), a third-year pro. Ahead of the 2022 season, free agent (FA) Park Hae-min left for the LG Twins, and Kim Hyun-joon, who got a full-fledged opportunity, performed more than expected in the air defense and quickly took the starting center fielder position.
This year, Kim Hyun-joon’s position was solid. He completed the spring camp normally, and flew with a batting average of 0.353 in 8 practice games (excluding Cheongbaekjeon). He was in the best condition among Samsung hitters.
However, he was knocked out in an exhibition match. On the 19th, in the home game against KT Wiz, Kim Hyun-joon, who started as the first batter in center field, recorded no hits in the first at-bat and was replaced by Lee Seong-gyu in the top of the 3rd inning and was eliminated from the game. It was due to pain in his right wrist.
Immediately after his injury, a club official said, “There is nothing special. His return will take about 3 months. From Samsung’s point of view, it’s a lightning bolt.
Given that there was no physical collision during the game on the 19th, but the fracture occurred, it seems that Kim Hyun-jun had been suffering from wrist pain before. He believed that the extent of the injury was not serious, and the worst result was a fracture from running through the pain.
In three months, you can come back mid-season. If you add the period of participating in the 2nd team game after completing the rehabilitation and developing a sense of real combat, it will inevitably take a much longer time to return to the 1st team. He considers Kim Hyeon-joon as a resource he virtually does not have and must find a replacement.
The player who is in the best condition is expected to receive a first chance. Currently, Kim Hyun-joon’s replacement number 1 is Lee Seong-gyu. His hitting feel is good enough to record a 400 batting average (0.429) in an exhibition game. He has been concentrating on outfield training since spring camp and has no major problems defensively. On the 20th, against the Lotte Giants, Seong-gyu Lee started as the first batter in center field and recorded 1 hit and 1 run in 5 at-bats.
He is now less than two weeks away from the start of the regular season.메이저사이트 Each club is putting all their efforts to prevent injuries while playing demonstration games. However, Samsung lost a key player to injury ahead of the opening. For now, we have no choice but to hope that substitute players such as Lee Seong-kyu will fill the void left by Kim Hyun-jun.