KT is coming up. It's coming up

KT, who will come up, will come up.

Over the past two years, this proposition was always true. Last season, KT had remained at the bottom of the league with a winning percentage of around 30 percent until June 6, when it played 51 games. The previous season was also struggling below its winning percentage of 50 percent until July was almost over. However, KT succeeded in rebounding like a lie. It ranked second in the Korean Series last season, and advanced to the post season by ranking fourth in the 2022 season.

KT is also having a harsh spring this year. It started the season with four consecutive losses and fell to the bottom in a week. It barely rose to ninth place only on the 24th, but no one knows when it will go down again. The starters are struggling, and the bullpen has become a powder keg. There are not a few injured players.

Manager Lee Kang-chul said, "I have to endure it for now." If I continue to endure it, I have confidence that I can eventually hit and advance. It was the case last year, and it was the case last year. Lee pointed to mid-May as the starting point for his rebound. Korean ace pitcher Ko Young-pyo will return after suffering a muscle injury in his elbow. Lee Sang-dong, a relief pitcher who injured his ankle ligament, is also expected to return to the mound around that time. The return of the two players will give him more breathing space. Rookie pitcher Wonsang Hyun, who is in the rotation of starting pitcher, can be turned to the bullpen to reinforce the back door.

If the team only lasts until mid-May, it will have additional resources that will enable the team to display strong potential even after Ko and Lee Sang-dong. Infielders Shim Woo-joon and Kwon Dong-jin, who are currently at the Sangmu FC, will be discharged from the military in July. They are players that can be used directly in the first team as base players and pinch runners. Due to the situation wherein KT has many veteran players in their late 30s, the effect of adding one base player and a pinch runner is even greater than that of other teams. As such, the team can give breaks to its key players and bring much more flexibility to the lineup. If Sohyeong-joon and his team are back on top of this, KT will eventually build up its full capacity. Once fully equipped, there is no team that can match KT in terms of offense and defense.

"The most important thing is that the batting lineup does not collapse until May," Lee said. Most of the recent games that KT wins are when the batters explode and overwhelm the opponent in a battle of firepower. On Monday, the team's batters exploded from the beginning, winning a landslide 7-1 victory over the Hanwha Eagles on the previous day as well. In particular, KT's top lineup, which includes Chun Sung-ho, Kang Baek-ho, and Mel Rojas Jr., is as strong as any other team in the league. Although the bottom lineup has not been able to keep pace yet, it seems that they are making up for it with the explosive power of the top lineup. "Other players have to come up when the batters who are doing well are about to fall down a bit, and pitchers have to settle down by then," Lee said. "That's a good scenario. I hope so."

However, it is currently unknown whether KT will have room to increase its power performance as much as last year. Last season, KT released Boschler, a sluggish foreign pitcher, and rehired ace William Cuevas to reorganize its power. Having maintained a winning percentage in the low 40 percent range until mid-June last year, KT finished the regular season in second place with 54 wins, one draw and 29 losses, and the league's highest winning percentage of 0.651 since its return to Cuevas.

BY: 스포츠토토