In fact, the options were not wide. This is why NC coach Kang In-kwon decided to first pick Park Seok-min as the third baseman for the new season and see the trend.
NC lost third basemen one after another in the free agent (FA) market at the end of last year. Noh Jin-hyeok, who was the nucleus of air defense in the FA market, was given to Lotte, and while FA catcher Park Se-hyeok was recruited, Park Jun-young, a substitute card, had to be sent to Doosan as a compensation player.
Noh Jin-hyeok played 465.1 innings in 59 games as a third baseman in the 2022 season, and Park Joon-young played 369.1 innings as a third baseman in 53 games. The two players who played the most as third basemen in NC left the team at once.
Aside from veteran third baseman Park Seok-min, there are other third baseman resources such as Seo Ho-cheol and Do Tae-hoon. However, they are players with a short history to look forward to the entire season and appoint them.
It is also unclear how active Park Seok-min will be in the new season. Park Seok-min, born in 1985, is difficult to predict the scope of activity as an infielder heading toward the twilight period, and spent the past two seasons as if he was wasting his time due to the aftermath of the Corona 19 quarantine violation disciplinary action.
Nonetheless, coach Kang In-kwon uses Park Seok-min moderately and shows high expectations because the team structure needs to secure a home run hitter. Coach Kang said at this point, “It is also a choice in consideration of the long hitting power of the entire team. I understand that Park Seok-min has been working hard on his personal training throughout the winter. I want him to do as well as he has prepared,” he said.
We do not expect Park Seok-min to hit 20 to 30 homers in the season like he did in his prime. Director Kang did not give specific figures, butIt seems that if Park Seok-min shows performance as good as the 2020 season, where he spent the season normally, it seems to be expected to be a definite plus to the team’s power.
Park Seok-min played 123 games in the 2020 season, and played 109 games as a third baseman and played 825.2 innings. He recorded enough defensive innings as a starting third baseman, and at the plate, he had a batting average of 0.306, 109 hits, 14 home runs, and 63 RBIs with an OPS of 0.902. Around 15 home runs seems to be the most ideal number of home runs that NC expects from Park Seok-min this season.
NC ranked 6th in the category with 105 team home runs last year. However, Yang Eui-ji (20), second in home runs, Nick Martini (16), and Noh Jin-hyeok (15) all left the team. 토토사이트 Excluding them, only Park Kun-woo (10) and Kim Joo-won (10) recorded double-digit homers.
The first big variable is the slugging power of Jason Martin, a newly added foreign hitter. Last year, Martin hit 32 homers in the season at Triple-A affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers. If Martin emits slugging power as expected to keep the top spot in the home run rankings for the season, there is a possibility that hitters in the surrounding batting order will rise together. However, it is impossible to rely only on foreign players who have to overcome the first barrier of adaptation. Park Seok-min’s ‘recovery’ and ‘resurrection’ are desperately needed in order to hide hitters with long hitting power all over the lineup.
NC in the 2023 season is curious about the number of team home runs as much as the team ranking. Can Park Seok-min, who is heading for the 300th home run high as a professional hitter with 268 home runs, open the ‘gun’ again?