'May Batting Average 0.145' Cheon Seong-ho Returns to 5th Spot and First Base! Faces 159 km/h Super Rookie [Jamsil On-site]

*This content was translated by AI.

LG Twins' Cheon Seong-ho (29) will face Kiwoom Heroes' super rookie Park Jun-hyun (19), who throws a fastball reaching speeds up to 159 km/h.

On the 24th, ahead of their home game against Kiwoom in the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season at Seoul Jamsil Baseball Stadium, LG announced its starting lineup.

On this day, LG's batting order was Hong Chang-ki (right fielder), Park Hae-min (center fielder), Austin Dean (first baseman), Oh Ji-hwan (shortstop), Cheon Seong-ho (first baseman), Lee Young-bin (third baseman), Song Chan-ui (left fielder), Lee Ju-heon (catcher), and Shin Min-jae (second baseman). The starting pitcher was Song Seung-gi.

It is notable that Cheon Seong-ho, who has been struggling with poor batting performance recently, has returned to the cleanup spot in the starting lineup. Cheon Seong-ho, who hit .369 (84 at-bats, 31 hits) over 26 games through April, has struggled in May with a .145 batting average (55 at-bats, 8 hits) in 19 games.

On the other hand, the opposing pitcher, Park Jun-hyun, has shown strong performance in his debut season with a 1-1 record, 2.29 ERA, 19⅔ innings, 13 walks, and 17 strikeouts across four games, making Cheon Seong-ho's selection particularly noteworthy.

Before the game, manager Yeom Kyung-yeop explained, "Cheon Seong-ho and Koo Bon-hyuk are players who must continue to be used. This is necessary for building up next year, so we plan to use them heavily this year. Both Bon-hyuk and Seong-ho need to improve beyond their current levels."

He also paid close attention to handling fast pitches. Manager Yeom stated, "At this point, Cheon Seong-ho has a higher probability of hitting fastballs over 150 km/h. If it were another pitcher, we would have used Moon Jung-bin, but Seong-ho currently has better ability to keep up with that speed."

In the previous day's game (23rd), the starting players led the team to victory with strong performances. Leadoff hitter Hong Chang-ki went 3-for-3 with one walk, one run, and one RBI; Oh Ji-hwan went 2-for-4 with two runs; and Park Dong-won went 1-for-2 with one walk and two RBIs.

Manager Yeom smiled, saying, "Yesterday, we won thanks to our starters stepping up. Hopefully, they'll continue to recover..." and added, "The batting coach is training with various strategies. I believe things will gradually improve."

A representative training focus is moving the batting point forward. Manager Yeom emphasized, "We are quickly moving the batting point forward. Overall, the points are too far back, which prevents barrel hits. Looking at teams that are hitting well now, their batting points are all forward. You must hit well from the front to increase extra-base hits and produce quality contact."

He continued, "Of course, there are players whose natural batting point is back. Hong Chang-ki is one of them, but even he currently has his point too far back. This happens because he tries to be more precise as he keeps missing. All battles must be fought aggressively. If you chase the ball, your batting balance can completely collapse."

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*This content was translated by AI.