Director Park Jin-man, who met with Kim Young-woong of '4 Samjin', said, "I have a lot of thoughts → It will get better as it goes on." [the scene of Daegu]

*This content was translated by AI.

Samsung Lions manager Park Jin-man (50) sent warm encouragement and constant trust to "big shot infielder" Kim Young-woong (23), who suffered ups and downs with four strikeouts in the game the previous day (28th). He even disclosed the interview and evaluated that he had too much thoughts.

Coach Park Jin-man revealed his interview with Kim Young-woong, who had been silent the previous day with four strikeouts in five at-bats, in a meeting with reporters ahead of the last two consecutive games of the '2026 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League' against the Lotte Giants at Daegu Samsung Lions Park on the 29th.

When asked about it, coach Park said, "I talked a little bit earlier. He said he was going to catch it and hit it (in the ninth inning). I think I have a lot of thoughts these days. He is a player whose simple side is an advantage. Still, it was my first game, so I think it will get better as we go on."

Kim Young-woong, who started as the sixth batter and third baseman against Lotte on the 28th, left a record of four strikeouts in five at-bats. In particular, with the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, trailing 3-6, Lotte rookie pitcher Park Jung-min struck out three pitches. In response, coach Park Jin-man said, "I think I'm hesitating."

Still, he also told Kim that he encouraged Kim Young-woong. Coach Park Jin-man said, "I advised you to strike out without regret if you are going to strike out anyway," adding, "I ordered you not to be afraid of strikeouts, but to be confident and swing boldly as you were doing."

Kim Young-woong is Samsung's next big infielder. Both the 2024 and 2025 seasons showed promise by hitting more than 20 home runs. In particular, he led Samsung's long-range corps by drawing as many as 28 arches in the 2024 season. However, in the exhibition game ahead of the opening of this season, the batting average slowed to 0.171 and unfortunately failed to add a hit until the opening game.

Still, he also sent a hopeful message to the team's batting lineup, who showed his concentration in the ninth inning of the previous day's game. Referring to his concentration with two runs in the ninth inning and one out, coach Park Jin-man said, "I think I only played baseball in the ninth inning. Still, it was fortunate that he continued his batting pace by hitting one hit at the last at-bat. I hope yesterday's flow will continue to the game today," he said.

Meanwhile, Samsung set up its starting lineup in the order of Lee Jae-hyun (striker), Kim Sung-yoon (right wing), Koo Ja-wook (left wing), Diaz (first baseman), Choi Hyung-woo (designated hitter), Kim Young-woong (third baseman), Ryu Ji-hyuk (second baseman), Kang Min-ho (fosu), and Kim Ji-chan (middle fielder). Compared to the previous day, Ryu Ji-hyuk was forward-deployed from No. 8 to No. 7, and Kang Min-ho got down from No. 7 to No. 8.

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*This content was translated by AI.