Infielders set to play key roles vs. ex-teams in KBO postseason series

▲ In this file photo from Oct. 30, 2021, Oh Jae-il of the Samsung Lions hits a two-run home run against the NC Dinos during the top of the fifth inning of a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at Changwon NC Park in Changwon, 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)

▲ Doosan Bears' shortstop Park Gye-beom fields the groundball hit by Park Ju-hong of the Kiwoom Heroes during the top of the eighth inning of a Korea Baseball Organization wild card game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Nov. 2, 2021. (Yonhap)

baseball-players

Infielders set to play key roles vs. ex-teams in KBO postseason series

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- After nine seasons with the Doosan Bears, first baseman Oh Jae-il signed with the Samsung Lions as a free agent last December. And as compensation for losing Oh, the Bears were allowed to pick a player off the Lions' active roster, and they selected shortstop Park Gye-beom.

These two clubs will now go up against each other in the best-of-three second round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason, beginning Tuesday night.

The Lions invested four years and 5 billion won (US$4.3 million) in Oh, hoping to address a glaring need at first base. In 2020, the Lions ranked second-to-last in on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) from their first basemen at .713. The league average was .801.

Oh came on board and put up 25 home runs, 97 RBIs and an .878 OPS. As a team, the Lions finished second overall with an .838 OPS from that position.

But Oh didn't come cheap. In addition to the lucrative contract they gave him, the Lions also had to send away a useful infielder in Park.

Though Park isn't close to the hitter that Oh is, he has proven to be a valuable and versatile defender. In this past regular season, Park appeared at shortstop, second base and third base.

He has taken over from veteran Kim Jae-ho as the everyday shortstop, where he made just one error over 374 1/3 innings in the regular season.

And Park, who hit .267 for the season, batted .385 in a dozen games against the Lions, his highest batting average against any team this year. He has more than held his own in his first postseason, too, going 3-for-10 in the previous series against the LG Twins without making an error on the field.

The Lions, on the other hand, got poor production from their shortstop position, ranking ninth among 10 clubs with a collective .607 OPS. Former Chicago Cubs prospect Lee Hak-ju struggled mightily both at the plate and on the field, and didn't even make the roster for this upcoming postseason series.

Oh has certainly been a major part of Samsung's success this year, but Park, once a forgotten man in the transaction, will try to make his former team regret letting him go.

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