Bad news struck the NC Dinos ahead of the postseason. In the second half of the season, the physical condition of central hitter Park Geon-woo (33), who is showing the best bat skills in the league, began to deteriorate.
NC deleted Park Geon-woo from the first-team entry ahead of the final match of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the KIA Tigers held at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on the 17th. Instead, pitcher Jeon Seon-min (24) was registered in the first team.메이저사이트
Park Geon-woo’s exclusion from the entry was unexpected. As of the 16th, he had played in 130 games this season and had a batting average of 0.319, 12 home runs, 85 RBI, 7 stolen bases, 146 hits, and an OPS of 0.877. He showed an even performance, ranking second in the team in batting average, home runs, RBI, and most hits.
In particular, the second half of the season, when the battle for rankings was in full swing, was even more intense. As of the 16th, he ranked second after Koo Ja-wook (Samsung, 0.364) with a batting average of 0.360 (73 hits in 203 at-bats) in 61 games in the second half of the season. OPS was also excellent at 0.954. He led the batting lineup along with Son Ah-seop, who was competing for the batting title. He has hit hard with a batting average of 0.382 (13 hits in 34 at-bats) in the last 10 games.
Moreover, NC’s ranking has not yet been determined. As of before the game on the 17th, NC is in 4th place with 75 wins, 66 losses, and 2 draws (win percentage 0.532). If the 3rd place SSG Landers wins the game against the Doosan Bears at home, the ranking will not be overturned, but if SSG loses and NC wins, it could fall to 3rd place. In a situation where you have to do your best until the end, you can’t help but wonder about Park Geon-woo’s absence.
But his physical condition was a problem. An NC official said, “Park Geon-woo’s back has been bad recently. In addition, he felt pain in his knee after his second at-bat (top of the third inning) yesterday (16th). He was replaced after his third at-bat.” This official went on to explain, “I think I will need injection treatment, so I am deleting the entry and going to Seoul today to receive injection treatment.”
This is a situation that could be cause for concern from the NC perspective. If NC ends the season in 4th place, they will have to play the wild card match starting on the 19th, two days later. With ace Eric Peddie (30) already in the game the day before, making it virtually difficult to have him pitch in the wild card game, it would be a crisis if even Park Geon-woo were to be left out.
For now, the club plans to monitor the situation after treatment. NC officials responded cautiously, saying, “We will have to check whether or not he will participate in the postseason after receiving treatment.”