Doosan defeated kt in the home room and secured a winning series early.
The Doosan Bears, led by head coach Lee Seung-yeop, won 5-1 with 11 hits, including two homers, in a home game against KT Wiz in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 22nd. Doosan, who had been pursued from a 10-1 lead to 10-6 with the bullpen shaking the previous day, secured a winning series through a neat victory by blocking kt’s other line with 1 run until the 9th inning, and maintained its 3rd place by running for 3 consecutive wins. (11 wins, 7 losses).
Doosan won its first win of the season with starter Choi Seung-yong throwing 6 hits, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts and no runs in 5 innings, and 4 bullpen pitchers allowed 1 run in 4 innings. In the batting line, Kim Jae-hwan, who hit a timely hit in the first inning, became the main character of the final hit, and Ahn Jae-seok recorded a multi-hit with a home run that was the season’s beast. However, the main contributor to Doosan’s victory on this day was Yang Chan-yeol, an outfielder in his 4th year as a pro, who swung a hard hit with 3 hits and 2 runs as the first hitter following the previous day’s 3 hits, 2 RBIs and 3 runs.
Doosan’s right fielder, who couldn’t be decided until the third week of the opening,
Doosan had a strong outfield line leading to Kim Jae-hwan, Su-bin Jeong, and Park Gun-woo (NC Dinos) when they were called ‘dynasties’ by advancing to the Korean Series for 7 consecutive years. However, with the transfer of Park Gun-woo, Doosan’s outfield, especially the right fielder position, became ‘Muju Gongsan’, and in 2022, various players such as Kim In-tae, Ahn Kwon-soo (Lotte Giants), and Kim Dae-han were crowded, and no clear starter appeared. And Doosan’s fierce competition for right field continues until this year.
The right fielder candidate Doosan expected the most was Jose Rojas, a foreign player. However, Rojas, who made a splendid debut with an extra-time home run in the opening game against Lotte on the 1st, has been sluggish with 5 hits in 23 at-bats (batting average of .217) in 7 games played as right fielder. Rojas, who has no clear advantage in defense, was excluded from the starting lineup as his hitting continued sluggishly.
Over the past two years, Kim In-tae has played in the most games (122 starts) as a right fielder for Doosan. Kim In-tae continued to play an active role as a starting outfielder this year as well, starting three games as a left fielder and three games as a right fielder. However, Kim In-tae suffered a dislocated shoulder injury while sliding to second base in an away game against the KIA Tigers on the 7th. He has now been told that he needs to rehabilitate for about four weeks, but Doosan안전놀이터 fans are concerned that Kim In-tae’s shoulder dislocation may lead to a ‘habituality’.
Kim Dae-han, who was selected as the first choice by Doosan in the 2019 rookie draft instead of Pil Seung-jo Lee Jung-yong of the LG Twins, is a large prospect who is being raised as a next-generation central hitter while completing military service early. Kim Dae-han, who showed potential by recording a batting average of .240, 4 home runs and 11 RBIs in 51 games in 2022, jumped into the right field competition this year. However, Kim Dae-han is also expected to be able to play only in May as he suffered an injury in which his left little finger was fractured during an exhibition game.
Song Seung-hwan, who finished his military service in 2022 as a motivation for joining Kim Dae-han and played in 11 games in the 1st team, has also been active as a main player and backup since being registered in the 1st team on the 8th. However, Song Seung-hwan is more used to defending left field than right field, as he started in 2 games as right fielder and 6 games as left fielder. To Doosan, who had a lot of worries about selecting the starting right fielder, a dark horse named Yang Chan-yeol has appeared and is throwing happy thoughts to manager Lee Seung-yeop.
Yang Chan-yeol, who
graduated from Jangchung High School and Dankook University and was nominated by Doosan in the 2020 rookie draft with the 79th overall in the 2nd 8th round, Yang Chan-yeol, who received 40 million won down payment and a low ranking, is attracting great attention. He wasn’t a prospect. He recorded a high batting average of .349 for four years at Dankook University, but the difference between college baseball and professional baseball is not small. In fact, Yang Chanyeol only participated in 17 games in the first team during his rookie season and enlisted in the military as an active duty soldier.
Yang Chan-yeol, who completed his military service in 2022, was converted to a training player after being discharged, but was registered as an official player in June due to his outstanding performance in the Futures League and was immediately registered in the first team. And on June 21, 2022, in a game against SSG Landers, he hit a .244 batting average with 3 home runs, 12 RBIs and 15 points in 41 games, including his first home run in his professional debut against Jang Ji-hoon (Sangmu Baseball Team). The performance of the return season of a player who finished military service as an active duty player from the 8th round was never bad.
Yang Chan-yeol, who has grown in size since the 2022 finish camp, recorded a high batting average of .417 (5 hits in 12 at-bats) in this year’s demonstration game and was included in the opening entry as a backup outfielder. However, the roles given to Yang Chan-yeol, who had relatively little first-team experience, were mainly runners or great defenders. Yang Chan-yeol, who stayed hitless in 3 at-bats in 7 games while back and forth, reported his first hit of the season against the Hanwha Eagles on the 20th and has been wielding a fire bat in the last 2 games against kt.
In the game on the 21st, Yang Chan-yeol, who started as the right fielder number 8, made a ‘game of life’ by playing an active role with 3 hits, 1 walk, 2 RBIs and 3 points in 3 at-bats. However, Yang Chanyeol’s hard hitting did not end on this day. In the game on the 22nd, Yang Chan-yeol, who was deployed as the first right fielder, showed great performance, recording 6 hits and 5 runs in 2 games, including 3 hits and 2 runs, including the final score in the 1st inning. Even without narrowing down the range to the right fielder, there was no hitter who made a strong impact like Yang Chan-yeol in the Doosan outfield this year.
Since kt’s selection in the last game of the three-game series on the weekend of the 23rd was predicted by Go Young-pyo, the left-handed hitter Yang Chan-yeol is very likely to start for four consecutive games. Even if the starting opponent was a lefty, not a submarine, there would be no coach who would exclude the hitter who boasts the best hitting feeling in the current team from the starting lineup. Yang Chan-yeol’s performance is entirely dependent on how far Yang Chan-yeol can go after the golden opportunity that came to him for the first time after his professional debut.