One of the factors that has had a big impact on the performance of the Lotte Giants over the past three years is defense. Lotte is a team with poor defense compared to offense. In 2021, when the gap began to become clear, the team batting average was 1st with 0.278, but the defense was the exact opposite. According to KBO’s official record statistics company, Sports 2I, DER (Defensive Efficiency), which indicates the ratio of in-play hits to outs, is 0.675, ranking 10th. At the time, shortstop Dixon Machado, who was the only one to record a positive (+) defensive WAR (contribution to win against substitute), endured at least, so the gap with the 9th place Doosan Bears (0.677) was not large.토토사이트
This is not a problem that will improve in the short term. Last year, after Machado left, Lotte’s DER fell further to 0.649. I tried to fill the narrow defensive range with a shift, but ironically, there were many days when the pitchers did not benefit from the defense. This season, when he realized the importance of defense even more, he focused on routine play of ‘let’s handle the ball coming within my range’ rather than an adventurous shift. As a result, the number of errors (59, based on the 12th) reached the lowest level among the 10 clubs. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement. DER is still the lowest at 0.665 for the third consecutive season.
Recently, even in the routine play, there was an unfortunate scene. In the match against Sajik SSG Landers on the 5th, Han Dong-hee, who caught Kim Kang-min’s grounder with one out in the top of the 5th inning with a 5-3 lead, stepped on third base and threw it home, but catcher Jung Bo-geun, who was unaware that the runner was tagged out, took the third base. I sent the person in vain. On the 9th, in the Gocheok Kiwoom Heroes game, Nico Gudrum, Ko Seung-min, and Yoon Dong-hee made mistakes in the 2nd and 3rd times. Everyone blocked or caught the ball coming in front of me well, but the finish was disappointing. Starting pitcher Park Se-woong on the 9th allowed 6 runs in 2.1 innings, but only 3 earned runs.
It would be difficult for the defensive insecurity that was briefly covered by the uptrend at the beginning of this season to come out again. Even in early May, when Lotte was in first place, DER was at the bottom. At that time, even now, the defensive indicators always say that we need to work hard. Lotte, who staked its life and death on participation in fall baseball, requires more concentration on defense.