Is this the best team since the 2017 championship?
The KIA Tigers are being talked about as a contender for the 2024 season. With LG Twins manager Yoon Kyung-yeop mentioning the Kia Tigers alongside KT Wiz as a borderline team for the second straight season, there is suddenly a lot of buzz around the team. In fact, the team’s current roster is said to be strong in pitching, hitting, and mobility. A comparison to the 2017 season, when KIA won its 11th championship, shows promise.
Back then, they didn’t have five starters. It was effectively a four-starter system, with the fifth starter being utilized as needed. Instead, Hector Noesi and Hyun-Jong Yang combined for 20 wins in 200 innings. Pat Dean also pitched 176 innings and won nine games, while Lim Ki-young pitched 118⅓ innings and won eight games. Jung Yong-woon (11 games) and Kim Jin-woo (8 games) were utilized as five starters.
The bullpen was led by Lim Chang-yong, 카지노사이트 Kim Yoon-dong, and Shim Dong-seop. Lim went 8-6 with 9 saves and a 3.78 ERA, Shim went 2-12 with 2 saves and a 5.68 ERA in 52 games, and Kim Yoon-dong went 7-4 with 6 saves and a 4.59 ERA in 65 games and 80⅓ innings. They utilized Ko Hyo-joon (40 games), Park Jintae (38 games), Han Seung-taek (36 games), and Hong Gun-hee (31 games). As the late-inning blowouts became more frequent without a closer, they traded away first-round pick Lee Seung-ho for Kim Se-hyun (8 saves). As evidenced by their ERA, they lacked a dominant bullpen.
What the bullpen didn’t have was a super-powerful offense.
Seven of their nine starters are triple threats. Choi Hyung-woo, a free agent signing, led the offense at the top of the order, batting .342 with 26 home runs and 120 RBIs, while Roger Bernadina batted .272 with 27 home runs, 32 doubles and 111 RBIs. The bats of Kim Sun-bin, Ahn Chi-hong, and Lee Myung-ki, as well as Najee Wan and Kim Joo-chan, also hit in the triple digits. The team OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) was also first at 0.839. They scored 905 runs in 144 games, or 6.29 runs per game. They gave up 5.16 runs per game. They won a lot of games, and that was the key to the championship.
For the 2024 season, the team could go with a five-man starting lineup. A domestic starting trio of Yang Hyun-jong, Lee Yi-ri, and Yoon Young-chul are joined by Will Crowe, who has two years of full-time major league experience. We’ll have to wait until we have one more foreign pitcher before we can truly assess the quality of the starting rotation. For now, it’s a positive that the domestic starters are competitive. Crowe is expected to be an ace given his major league experience. Ultimately, the quality of the foreign starters will determine how high the starting rotation goes.
The bullpen will certainly be better than it was in 2017. The difference is that fifth-year starter Jung Hae-young has established himself as a professional closer with 90 saves since joining the team. He is backed by right-hander Jeon Sang-hyun, sidearm Im Ki-young, and left-hander Choi Ji-min, who all posted sub-2 ERAs last year and are considered closers. Lefty Lee Jun-young and righty Jang Hyun-sik are also solid. Hidden cards Kim Ki-hoon (L) and Yoo Seung-cheol Kwak Do-kyu (L) and veteran left-hander Kim Dae-yu are also available.
The batting lineup is also clearly organized.
The centerpiece is Na Sung-bum, who boasted a 1.098 OPS last year, and Choi Hyung-woo, who has shown he can still be a fixture in the No. 4 spot. There’s also Socrates Brito, who hit more than 20 home runs for the second straight year. Kim Sun-bin is a sophisticated three-hole hitter, while Park Chan-ho is a three-hole shortstop, and Kim Do-young and Lee Woo-sung are the first three-hole hitters. Park Chan-ho, Kim Do-young, and full-time challenger Choi Won-jun are all capable of hitting for the cycle and reaching the 100-run mark. The catcher bats of Kim Tae-gun and Han Jun-soo are also competitive. They may not have seven triple-hitters, but they can hit for power, 카지노사이트 추천 run the bases, and hit for connections. The offense proved it during a nine-game winning streak last year.
The backup infield has thickened, but it is limited to defense. There is a big difference in hitting between the starters and the backups. The six- to eight-man rotation is also unclear. Spring training is a challenge. Especially in recent years, starters have been prone to injuries. It is necessary to thoroughly manage injuries by preserving physical strength. It’s also important to recover from last year’s slump. So it’s hard to say that the team is the strongest yet, but it is definitely the most anticipated team since 2017.