KT coach Lee Kang-cheol wants to break away from being a slow starter

KT Wiz coach Lee Kang-cheol and players Park Kyung-soo and Ko Young-pyo are posing at the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO Media Day held at Lotte Hotel Seoul in Jung-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 22nd. The 2024 KBO professional baseball season opens on the 23rd.

KT Wiz has unintentionally gained the image of a ‘slow starter’ over the past two years. At the beginning of the season, they had no choice but to fight a difficult battle due to the negative news of several key players getting injured, but they showed their potential after the middle of the season and succeeded in advancing to the postseason.

However, the intention is to move away from the ‘slow starter’ approach this year. Fortunately, there have been no injuries, so the situation is much better than the past two years.

KT will face the Samsung Lions in the opening game of the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League held at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province on the 23rd.

Coach Lee Kang-cheol, who met with reporters before the game, expressed satisfaction with the opening of the game without any injuries.

Coach Lee said, “The most important thing is that there were no injuries from spring camp to the end of the exhibition game. Still, if we play without the main players missing, I think we will do the basics.”

KT experienced the negative news of injuries to early starters for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023. In particular, last year, Kim Min-soo, Ju-won, Bae Jeong-dae, and So Hyeong-jun were out due to injuries, and the team fell to the bottom until June.

Still, they rebounded after June and took second place in the regular league and runner-up in the Korean Series, and the good news is that there are no major departures this year. Coach Lee said, “Looking at the overall strength this year, there is no weak team, so we need to fight better in the early stages,” and “I think we will have to endure well in the early stages.” However, no 'expected multiplier' was set. Director Lee said, “I’m not good at that. “I can’t calculate and set a goal of winning a few games like others,” he said, laughing, adding, “I’ll just focus on playing the game day by day.” On this day, KT had Bae Jeong-dae (center fielder) - Kim Min-hyuk (left fielder) - Mel Rojas Jr. (right fielder) - Park Byeong-ho (first baseman) - Kang Baek-ho (designated hitter) - Hwang Jae-gyun (third baseman) - Jang Seong-woo (catcher) - Cheon Seong-ho (second baseman) - The lineup was organized in the order of Kim Sang-soo (shortstop). Overall, there is no significant change from last year, and it is noticeable that Seong-ho Cheon was selected as the starting second baseman. Seong-ho Cheon is a fifth-year infielder who joined in 2020. He recorded a batting average of 0.350 with Sangmu last year and was the Futures League batting champion. Manager Lee said, “The defense is still unstable, but the batting is good,” and “I hope he does well at second base like the existing Park Kyung-soo.” Regarding William Cuevas, who takes the mound as a starting pitcher, “I’m thinking about 80 pitches today. “I hope he throws well as our first starter,” he said. 고스톱