He was also an irreplaceable shortstop with a .300 hit rate.
KIA Tigers starting shortstop Park Chan-ho returned and led the team to victory. He was named in the starting lineup as the 9th hitter and shortstop in the game against NC Dinos held at Changwon NC Park on the 26th. He led the team to a 6-4 victory with solid performances in offense and defense. He contributed greatly to the victory by going 1-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. It wasn’t just the attack.
First of all, he showed outstanding stability in defense. In the first inning, when Park Min-woo grounded to second base with no outs on first base, Kim Sun-bin caught the throw and made a double play on the speedy Park Min-woo with an accurate and fast throw. In the second inning, with two outs and one on base, he caught Seo Ho-cheol’s deep hit and lightly sprinkled it to second base to end the inning. In the 4th inning, with one out and one on third base, he played forward defense and briefly missed Kwon Hee-dong’s ground ball, but he checked the runner on third base and skillfully put the batter out.
In the 6th inning, he caught the first batter, Son Ah-seop’s missed ball, and safely delivered it to first base. The defense was dominant in the bottom of the 7th inning with a 6-2 lead. He threw his body out to catch a low, strong hit from lead hitter Kwon Hee-dong. Commentator Lee Soon-cheol praised the defense, saying, “It was a defense that broke the opponent’s will.” Since it was right after Martin’s solo home run, the diagnosis was that if it had been a hit, the lead could have been lost.
He was also excellent at bat. He walked away with a pitcher’s grounder in his first at-bat in the third inning and a strikeout in his second at-bat in the fifth. However, in the 7th inning with 1 out and 1st and 3rd base on base, he failed to hit a squeeze bunt, but after a full count, he hit a timely hit in front of right field, widening the lead to 4-1. It was a hit where he twisted his body and hit the ball as it came towards him. Afterwards, he went all the way home due to an opponent’s error. KIA was able to secure the win by producing a 5-run big inning. Park Chan-ho’s timely hitting with his will served as a valuable stepping stone.
Chan-ho Park suffered damage to the ligament of the fourth finger of his left hand while sliding headfirst to first base at Daegu Samsung Stadium on the 12th. He was unable to bat and was therefore unavailable as a starter. He had a batting average of .300 and solid defense, leading the team to an upward trend of 12 wins and 2 losses until the previous day. With Park Chan-ho missing, a big gap opened up in offense and defense and they faltered.
Leadoff was missing from the batting lineup, and Kim Do-young came on in his place, but performed poorly. His base running, which had allowed him to steal eight bases in one game, also slowed down. As the offensive route was not clear, the central batting line also lost strength. The bigger problem was defense. When Kim Do-young moved to shortstop, mistakes began to appear one after another at shortstop and third base. In an instant, they fell into a 7-game losing streak. 안전놀이터
The foundation of the team was shaken. Fortunately, he recovered quickly and returned to work in two weeks. The team’s offensive power was greatly weakened as Na Seong-beom and Choi Hyeong-woo ended the season due to injuries. Nevertheless, Chan-ho Park returned and showed off his outstanding offense and defense, leading to victory. It was a comeback match that made us feel again the importance and anticipation of Park Chan-ho.