Lotte used up their two foreign substitution cards before the second half. However, the results have been mixed.
Aaron Wilkerson, who was brought in to replace Dan Straily, has been pitching well in the starting lineup. As of the 20th, Wilkerson is 4-2 with a 1.93 ERA in 10 games.
However, the batting order hasn’t fared as well. Jack Rex, the team’s regular outfielder, has been diagnosed with a knee injury that will require six weeks of rehabilitation. Looking to rebound in the second half, Lotte decided to make a change and brought in Niko Goodrum.
Rex was batting .246 with four home runs and 30 RBIs in 55 games before being replaced. Gudrum is now hitting .261 with 20 RBIs in 37 games. That’s not much of a switch.
On top of that, Goodrum hasn’t started a game recently. After starting in the NC game on September 9, he hasn’t played since, and his most recent game was against Kiwoom on September 19. He only managed one at-bat.
Goodrum recently underwent a medical examination for a sore thigh. The examination revealed nothing unusual. However, the player continued to complain of pain, so the team decided to give him a break. It’s not fair to force a player to play when he’s not fully fit.
However, Lotte’s lack of an outside hitter is unfortunate for their hopes of reaching the top five. At this rate, there’s a good chance that they’ll end up with a ‘bust’ this year.
Lotte hasn’t had much luck with outfielders in recent years. Andy Burns, who played in 2017 and 2018, and Dixon Machado, who played for Lotte in 2020 and 2021, are the only names that stick in the minds of fans, but other than that, they have disappeared from the league without a sound.
Burns hit .268 with 23 home runs and 64 RBIs in 2018, the year before he said goodbye, and while his home run total was much higher than the 15 he hit in 2017, his batting average dropped from .303 to the mid-twenties and his defense collapsed, so there was plenty of reason to replace him.
However, Machado had been a consistent performer for two straight seasons and anchored the center of the infield, so there were plenty of questions about his replacement.스포츠토토
In 2022, the team brought in DJ Peters, but after hitting just .228 with 13 homers and 38 RBIs in 85 games, he was replaced by Rex. Rex hit .330 with eight home runs in 56 games as a replacement outfielder, raising expectations for this season, but an unexpected injury cut him short. As a result, all of the foreign bat replacements failed.
This year is no different. With Goodrum’s performance stalling, Lotte is getting further and further away from the fall. The term “foreign batting atrocity” has become inescapable.
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