Even in KT, there's a water fountain baseball game! A 13-year veteran with a batting average of 0.471 will also burn in the open batting lineup

*This content was translated by AI.

Many players are excited as the batting lineup opens up. KT Wiz veteran infielder Oh Yoon-seok (34) is one of them.

Oh Yoon-seok is a 13-year veteran who joined Lotte Giants as a nurturing player in 2014 after graduating from Hwajung Elementary School, Jayang Middle School, Gyeonggi High School, and Yonsei University. KT's life has already been in its sixth year, joining through a trade in 2021.

In the meantime, he has not been able to play many games due to limited opportunities. However, whenever he played all the infield positions except shortstop, he contributed to the team with a good performance. The KBO's first fifth-place tiebreaker game in 2024 would have been difficult without Oh Yoon-seok, who had a batting average of 0.361 (13 hits in 36 at-bats) and one home run and seven RBIs in 15 games since September of that year.

This year, a large number of key players, including rookie Lee Kang-min (19), Ryu Hyun-in (26), and Kim Hyun-soo (38), joined the team, making the position even more worrisome. Nevertheless, I met Star News last winter and said, "In fact, there was no season where I didn't compete no matter who came. My position has always been the same," he said, silently focusing on training.

The effort seems to be shining early in the season. He played in 12 exhibition games and recorded a batting average of 300, and even in the regular season, he is flying with a batting average of 0.471 (8 hits in 17 at-bats), a on-base percentage of 0.500, and a slugging percentage of 0.588.

KT manager Lee Kang-chul also said in a recent match against Suwon Samsung, "(Oh) Yoon-seok is doing better than expected. He was good at defense, but he has a lot of bats coming up. Yoon Seok has grown a lot recently while looking at his condition and making up the lineup. I liked the exhibition game, so I thought I should keep using it, and I should use it."

As several players share the designated hitter position, it is finally possible for KT. As the batting lineup opens up, the main players save their physical strength, and the backup players take the opportunity and grow. Ryu Hyun-in, Oh Yoon-seok, and Han Seung-taek are such cases this year. On the 4th, when Oh Yoon-seok started, Jang Sung-woo, who fits well with Suwon Samsung Electronics' Soh Hyung-joon, wore a catcher mask, and Kim Hyun-soo, the main first baseman, played as the designated hitter.

At the time, manager Lee Kang-chul said, "(Small) Hyung-jun is a pitcher who makes a lot of ground balls, but (Kim) Hyun-soo may be a little hard. He can't ignore the ground ball to the first base (physically). So I gave Hyun-soo a break and gave him (Oh) Yoon-seok," he said. "Yoon-seok has a good sense of touch. I tried to use it the day before (3rd), but I couldn't. Yoon Seok should use it when he has a good batting sense. A week goes by when it's good. "If Yoon Seok or (Jang) Jun-won had a fast foot, he would have been the main player unconditionally," he explained.

It's an opportunity after a long backup, but Oh Yoon-seok doesn't let his guard down. Oh Yoon-seok also gave his home fans their first win with a decisive RBI double in the match against Suwon Samsung on the 5th.

After the game, Oh Won-seok said, "I had a lot of luck. Preparing with coach Yoo Han-joon and Kim Kang during the camp helped a lot. I practiced looking straight at the pitcher and competing, and the timing improved," he said.

He said, "I'm paying more attention to the process than to the record. The season is long. "I'm glad I got on a good cycle while the team was showing a good performance," he said. "I personally hope to continue to show the same side of me now. But rather than that, I will try more to help the team continue this atmosphere," he stressed.

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*This content was translated by AI.