'Don't poke your eyes!' Was Coach Kim Kyung-moon's irritated shout a 'major twist'? The truth is this.

*This content was translated by AI.

A single action by Kim Kyung-moon (68), the head coach of Hanwha Eagles, toward Moon Hyun-bin (22), sparked debate.

The so-called 'eye-poking' gesture. Fans said the action could easily be misunderstood, but Moon Hyun-bin insisted, "It was absolutely not that."

On the 5th, Hanwha lost 7-12 to the KIA Tigers in an away game of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season held at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field.

With this loss, Hanwha maintained its 9th-place position in the league with 12 wins and 19 losses. They are trailing the league's last-place Kiwoom Heroes (12 wins, 20 losses) by 0.5 games. Meanwhile, the gap with the league-leading KT Wiz (22 wins, 10 losses) has widened to 9.5 games. Hanwha's recent 5-game record is 1 win and 4 losses.

Hanwha's recent struggles, including Moon Dong-ju's injury absence and the loss after using closer Cushing from the 7th to the 9th inning, have also put Coach Kim Kyung-moon's managerial tactics under scrutiny.

On top of that, a short clip from the Hanwha-Samsung game on the 3rd sparked further discussion among baseball fans regarding the head coach.

At that time, in the bottom of the 3rd inning during Hanwha's offense, with one out and no runners on base, Moon Hyun-bin stepped up to the plate. Before entering the batter's box, the broadcast captured Coach Kim Kyung-moon giving direct advice to Moon Hyun-bin. Even worse, Coach Kim Kyung-moon made a gesture as if poking his own eye with his finger.

Regarding this scene, fans reacted with comments such as, "Is he scolding Moon Hyun-bin for his eye-poking routine with irritation?" and "No, a team coach wouldn't do that. He must have given sincere advice thinking of Moon Hyun-bin."

What is the truth? According to a Hanwha official met at the Gwangju site on the 5th, Moon Hyun-bin stated regarding the coach's gesture, "It had nothing to do with the eye-poking story," and explained, "He encouraged me just like usual before stepping into the batter's box."

Moon Hyun-bin drew a line by saying, "The coach is absolutely not the type to do that," and added, "It seems the misunderstanding arose because a video highlighting only the coach's hand gesture went viral."

In fact, Moon Hyun-bin has a routine where he makes a gesture as if poking his own eye with his finger to further heighten his concentration before stepping into the batter's box.

And Moon Hyun-bin performed this same routine exactly as usual in the game on the 5th. Coincidentally, Moon Hyun-bin, who had been silent with 0 hits in 5 at-bats on the 3rd, remained silent with 0 hits in 2 at-bats in the KIA game on the 5th, but displayed keen eye by carefully selecting 3 walks to complete a 3-on-base game.

Meanwhile, Moon Hyun-bin has recorded detailed statistics in 29 games this season: a batting average of 0.312 (109 at-bats, 34 hits), 5 home runs, 7 doubles, 2 triples, 23 RBIs, 21 runs scored, 1 stolen base (1 failed), 25 walks, 2 hit-by-pitches, 13 strikeouts, a slugging percentage of 0.550, an on-base percentage of 0.449, an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.999, and a batting average with runners in scoring position of 0.360.

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*This content was translated by AI.