Four years ago, the opening eight games were 0.067' Yang Eui-ji is Doosan's "big bat."

*This content was translated by AI.

When Doosan Bears catcher Yang Eui-ji (39) enters the batter's box, a cheering song, "Yang Eui-ji, Doosan's master of the home." The original song is "Flower House Lady" by Bongbongsa Jungchangdan in the late 1960s, which begins with the lyrics "The Lady of the Flower House is Pretty."

It is said that it sounds like "Dusan's King Bat" to fans of other clubs who listen to Yang Eui-ji's cheering song for the first time, not "Dusan's master." This is probably because Yang Eui-ji is the scariest hitter in Doosan for the "king bat," that is, the opposing team.

However, Yang Eui-ji's bat at the beginning of the 2026 season is awkward to call it a 'king'. As of Tuesday, when he played eight games since the opening of the season, his batting average is 0.069 (2 hits in 29 at-bats). Last year's batting average (0.337) was the lowest among 74 batters who met the regulation this year. Both hits are single hits, and there is no home run or RBI. It's an unexpected slump for anyone.

Did Yang Eui-ji have a start to this season. Since his debut, he has looked at his performance in eight games since the opening of each season. Yang Eui-ji, who was selected by Doosan as the 59th overall pick in the second eighth round in the 2006 rookie draft, served in the police force after playing only three games in the first team in 2007. He then won the Rookie of the Year award with a surprise performance of hitting 20 home runs in 127 games in 2010, his return season.

From 2010 to last year, when he started playing in the first-team full season, the batting average of .300 or higher in the opening eight games is more than half with nine. There were five times in the 20s. He hit more than 20% in 14 of the 16 seasons, so he has been stable since the beginning of every year.

There were two seasons that could be said to have had a poor start. He only hit 0.067 (2 hits in 30 at-bats) in the opening eight games of 2022, his last year with NC. His batting average is 2 percent lower than this year. However, he recovered to 0.324 in May, and swung a hard hit of 0.403 in August, eventually finishing the season with a batting average of 0.283 (121 hits in 427 at-bats) and 20 homers and 94 RBIs.

Last year, he also had a batting average of 0.174 (4 hits in 23 at-bats) in the opening eight games. However, he was honored as the oldest batting champion in history, flying 0.354 in May, 0.407 in August, and 0.483 in September. As expected, Yang Eui-ji was Yang Eui-ji.

Yang Eui-ji and the team are also trying various solutions due to the unexpected slump at the beginning of this season. TV broadcast screens often showed Yang Eui-ji checking his swing form without letting go of the bat even in the dugout. Doosan Bench tried to change the atmosphere by adjusting Yang Eui-ji's batting order from No. 4 to No. 3 for the first time this season against Hanwha Eagles on the 5th.

Doosan manager Kim Won-hyung (54) still gave a firm belief, saying, "Yang Eui-ji is a player who creates his condition throughout the game." Doosan fans are also looking forward to Yang Eui-ji's cheering song being heard by the opposing team again as "Dusan's king bat."

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*This content was translated by AI.