The NC Dinos will experiment with a batting order that has never been seen in team history. It’s the ‘catcher number 2 hitter’.
NC coach Kang In-kwon (51) said, “I’m thinking of checking Park Se-hyuk’s second batting order a little more during the demonstration game” ahead of the 2023 KBO League demonstration game against Doosan Bears held at Changwon NC Park on the 15th.
Park Se-hyuk, who started as the second hitter and catcher in the game against LG on the 13th, played in the same position on this day. He met his home team for the first time after transferring to a free agent (FA) and started playing in a somewhat unfamiliar batting order.
The appointment of Park Se-hyeok in the second batting order is not simply to increase the number of at-bats. Director Kang explained the reason, “It is to create synergy with Park Min-woo.” He said, “The team lacks long-running power, so one hit should go two bases,” he said.
As coach Kang said, Park Se-hyeok had a career batting average of 0.259, showing a decent batting average for a catcher. In 2019, his career high season, he boasted quick feet, recording 9 triples and 8 stolen bases. Prior to his facial injury in 2021, he was a player who regularly batted above .270.
However, while playing 9 seasons for Doosan, Park Se-hyeok is only a handful of times as the starting second hitter. He’s never even had a catcher’s mask day. He appeared in one game in 2016 as the designated hitter and two in 2018 as right fielder. Director Kang said, “I think I came out a little (as a second hitter) during my amateur days,” but at this time, he also served as an outfielder.
It’s hard to see even if you look at the history of the NC team. After entering the first team in 2013, through 10 seasons until last year, there was no case where the catcher started in the second batting order. There was no case where the catcher went up to the second as the designated hitter. If Park Se-hyuk comes out as the second hitter and catcher in the regular season, a new history will be written.
This is a rarity in the league as a whole.메이저놀이터 At least, I rarely saw him, except that Hanwha often put him as the second batter to save the high on-base rate of catcher Choi Jae-hoon. It is because the batting order often returns and there are physical problems. Director Kang, who was a catcher, also said, “If you go into number 2, you will be a bit busy.”
Still, the player himself is full of enthusiasm. Director Kang said, “While thinking about the batting order during the camp, he asked Park Se-hyuk, and he said, ‘It’s okay’.”
Park Se-hyeok, who came out as the second batter in the game on the 15th, finished the game with 1 hit in 3 at-bats. In particular, at the end of the third inning, he attacked Raul Alcantara’s 152 km/h fastball, which had formed a battery in the past, and hit a double that went out on the right field line, proving the sense of hitting.