“I beat the home run king with 200 hits and won the MVP, so why change it?”
LG Seo Kun-chang prepares for the 2023 season as a third-year free agent. The year and a half I spent at LG from the second half of the 2021 season was a devastating failure when viewed coldly. He appeared in all 144 games in 2021, but had a batting average of 0.253 with 6 homers, 52 RBIs and 78 points, and in the 2022 season, a batting average of 0.224 with 2 homers, 18 RBIs and 39 points in 77 games.
The decline that started from 스포츠토토the 2020 season, when he was growing up, is prolonged. However, there is an important change in the external environment this season. This is because he was reunited with director Yeom Gyeong-yeop, who discovered and raised him. Manager Yeom is a leader who had a great influence on the growth of the unknown Seo Kun-chang into the best second baseman in the KBO League during the Nexen days.
The general opinion is that Seo Kun-chang’s sluggishness began when he lost his form in which he scored 201 hits in the 2014 season. In order to become a better player after being selected as the MVP, he threw away his 200 hit form and failed to install a long hit, and is having an awkward time without being able to return to his old form.
Coach Yeom Gyeong-yeop said ahead of the exhibition match against KIA in Gwangju on the 20th, “I beat the home run king (Byeong-ho Park, 52 homers at the time) with 200 hits and won the MVP, so why change it? With that, the form of the gunchang was shaken and it could not be established. It’s like this and that, and it’s a process of catching it again.”
After the 2014 season, he failed to break the 200 mark again. Still, until the 2019 season, he consistently hit more than 30% (0.298 in 2015), and was an alternate hitter and spray hitter representing the KBO League. However, he sat down with a 0.277 in the 2020 season and got to where he is today.
Coach Yeom Kyung-yeop is a leader who does not prefer form changes. He is a leader who believes that success comes only when he finds the routine or mechanic that suits him best and then consistently maintains it. Most successful stars are like that. For example, if a hitter who has succeeded as an alternate hitter bulks up with greed for long hits, it is 100% based on the fact that he failed. The theory is that batting is a battle of points and timing.
Manager Yeom said, “He knew Gun Changi in the days when he had 200 hits, so what was good at that time and what he had, so he only explained how he became a spray heater. Only then will he know what training to do. The rest is up to you to feel it. Managers and coaches provide direction, and it is important whether the player is persuaded or not.”
Director Yeom has already explained enough to Seo Geon-chang, which means that it is up to him to accept and prepare. He said, “If players don’t accept it, all we can do is follow it. So the manager and coaches have to work hard to give confidence to the players. However, he cannot go steadily if the player himself has doubts in his heart. He can’t say anything if he doesn’t go in the right direction. it’s his own life It’s not like he’s doing everything.”
One of the points to watch for LG this year is whether Seo Geon Chang-yum will meet coach Seo Geon-chang and revive his 2014 form again. LG has been struggling with second base for years, and manager Yeom intends to give Seo Kun-chang another chance. The exhibition game is a time to get a glimpse of whether Seo Geon-chang has changed. First of all, it’s not bad with 7 hits in 23 at-bats, 0.304 batting average, 3 RBIs, 3 runs and 1 walk in 6 games.