These are not the numbers of a three-time KBO Golden Glove winner who just returned from injury. It’s the 2023 season of Lee Woo-sung, 29, the “Dae-Go Kim” who moved to the KIA Tigers in 2019 and has been a perennial backup for the past four years. The potential that has been promising since his high school days is showing signs of blossoming eight years after his professional debut.
On Sept. 9 against the Jamsil Doosan Bears, Lee started in the sixth spot in right field and went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs, one run scored, and one strikeout. Behind Lee’s performance, KIA defeated Doosan 7-3 and snapped a three-game losing streak.
From his first at-bat in the second inning, Lee showed perseverance to retire right-hander Kim Dong-joo on a catcher’s strikeout not out after a seven-pitch battle, and then with runners on first and third in the fourth inning, he hit a huge sacrifice fly to the right foul line. After warming up his bat lightly, Lee began to swing for the fences. In the sixth inning, he led off with a double off a slider from Kim Myung-shin that grazed the side of the shortstop. In the top of the seventh, he hit a two-seam fastball to the body of right-hander Lee Hyung-beom for a clean single to center field.
The final at-bat was the highlight. In the top of the ninth inning, with KIA leading 6-3 and runners on second and third, a home run to the far right field fence could have ended the game. It was only a single to right-center field and a double to left-center field, a performance that showed the absence of star right fielder Na Sung-bum.
Lee is now batting .321 with a .482 on-base percentage and .871 OPS as he continues his fight for the starting job. He started the year as a backup, so he didn’t get as many plate appearances (129) as he did regular at-bats (158), but against hitters with more than 100 at-bats, Lee is top-10 in the league in batting average, ninth in on-base percentage, and seventh in OPS.
These are not the numbers of a three-time KBO Golden Glove winner who just returned from injury. It’s the 2023 season of Lee Woo-sung, 29, the “Dae-Go Kim” who moved to the KIA Tigers in 2019 and has been a perennial backup for the past four years. The potential that has been promising since his high school days is showing signs of blossoming eight years after his professional debut.
On Sept. 9 against the Jamsil Doosan Bears, Lee started in the sixth spot in right field and went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs, one run scored, and one strikeout. Behind Lee’s performance, KIA defeated Doosan 7-3 and snapped a three-game losing streak.
From his first at-bat in the second inning, Lee showed perseverance to retire right-hander Kim Dong-joo on a catcher’s strikeout not out after a seven-pitch battle, and then with runners on first and third in the fourth inning, he hit a huge sacrifice fly to the right foul line. After warming up his bat lightly, Lee began to swing for the fences. In the sixth inning, he led off with a double off a slider from Kim Myung-shin that grazed the side of the shortstop. In the top of the seventh, he hit a two-seam fastball to the body of right-hander Lee Hyung-beom for a clean single to center field.
The final at-bat was the highlight. In the top of the ninth inning, with KIA leading 6-3 and runners on second and third, a home run to the far right field fence could have ended the game. It was only a single to right-center field and a double to left-center field, a performance that showed the absence of star right fielder Na Sung-bum.
Lee is now batting .321 with a .482 on-base percentage and .871 OPS as he continues his fight for the starting job. He started the year as a backup, so he didn’t get as many plate appearances (129) as he did regular at-bats (158), but against hitters with more than 100 at-bats, Lee is top-10 in the league in batting average, ninth in on-base percentage, and seventh in OPS.
Initially, Lee was considered to have potential as a slugger. While the nickname “Dae-Go Kim” has long since faded, his bat speed is still in the low 160s according to KIA’s internal data, forming the second-best group behind Na Sung-bum along with Kim Do-young (20)토토사이트. The difference from previous years was the higher launch angle. In the major leagues, it is often said that it is faster to improve the strength of a hitter with a launch angle that can produce home runs than to adjust the launch angle of a powerful hitter, and Lee did the former.
Due to Lee’s remarkable performance, KIA is considering switching its main outfielder Choi Won-jun, 26, who is set to return from the Armed Forces Athletic Corps (Sangsang), to first base for this year only. The reason is that with the strong performances of existing players such as Lee Woo-sung, Socrates Brito, and Ko Jong-wook, there is no place for Na Sung-beom, the main right fielder, who is returning soon. “Choi Won-jun played the outfield for about two seasons before he went to the army, but before that he played all over the infield, so I asked him to try first base (in the mercantile industry), and he seems to be doing well,” said KIA manager Kim Jong-kook before the game.
While he’s showing signs of coming into his own, he still has some work to do to become a solid outfield starter. One is an above-league average outfield defense, and the other is a weak reverse split against left-handed pitching. Typically, right-handed hitters are stronger against lefties, but Lee has a career .206 batting average against lefties and a .258 batting average against righties.
This year’s stats don’t look much different, with a 0.361 batting average against righties and a 0.231 batting average against lefties, but the story is different. He is erasing his shortcomings with sincerity and passion. According to Cho Seung-beom, KIA’s power analysis coach, Lee Woo-sung is the KIA player who visits the analysis room the most to hear the opposing pitcher’s briefing before the game. As a result, Lee’s batting average against lefties was 0.125 in April and 0.278 since May.
On the 9th, Choi Won-jun was named to the baseball team for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games because of his ability to play both infield and outfield. Choi’s performance just before his military enlistment made an impact, as he was selected despite his poor performance in the commercial team this year (batting .220 in 28 games). However, the vacancy of the national outfielder that all Kia fans had been waiting for was being filled by someone who had been toiling away in silence.