Tale of two KBO batters: little engine keeps chugging along, big slugger's slump continues

▲ Doosan Bears' first baseman Oh Jae-il (L) holds on to the ball after Cho Yong-ho of the KT Wiz (R) beat out an infield single in the bottom of the fourth inning of Game 2 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Nov. 10, 2020. (Yonhap)

▲ Cho Yong-ho of the KT Wiz (R) waits for a video review after legging out an infield single against the Doosan Bears in the bottom of the fourth inning of Game 2 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Nov. 10, 2020. (Yonhap)

▲ Cho Yong-ho of the KT Wiz hits an infield single against the Doosan Bears in the bottom of the fourth inning of Game 2 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Nov. 10, 2020. (Yonhap)

postseason-batters

Tale of two KBO batters: little engine keeps chugging along, big slugger's slump continues

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- One is a smallish, scrappy corner outfielder with something to prove. The other is a hulking first baseman with three championship rings. With their teams locked in a South Korean baseball postseason battle, their contrasting performances serve as an apt representation of where each team is going, after three games into a best-of-five series.

The former is KT Wiz outfielder Cho Yong-ho, who has shown some wizardry with his bat and his defense so far in his first extended postseason. The latter is Doosan Bears first baseman Oh Jae-il, a bear of a man whose hitting slump is so bad that his usually carefree manager is worried.

The Bears are leading the Wiz 2-1 in their best-of-five second round of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason. But the Wiz, after losing the first two, took the third game 5-2 thanks to a five-run outburst in the eighth inning. With a favorable pitching matchup for Friday's Game 4, the Wiz feel like they can make this a series and force a deciding Game 5. Cho was 6-for-12 against Doosan's Game 4 starter Yoo Hee-kwan during the regular season.

And the Bears, trying to close out the Wiz quickly, gripped their bats a little too tight in Game 3, and none more so than Oh.

Listed at 170 centimeters, Cho is the shortest player on either team in this series. But he has come up huge for the Wiz, recording two outfield assists in the first two games and then going 5-for-10 with two doubles in the past two games.

For Game 1, KT manager Lee Kang-chul tweaked his lineup so dramatically that Cho, who spent the bulk of the regular season as the leadoff man, was moved down to the seventh spot. Cho went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Lee got out of his own way and returned Cho to the top of the order. And Cho responded by picking up two hits in Game 2 and three more in Game 3. He led off both games with a hit.

"After the second game, he came up to me and said, 'I'll try to do better,'" Lee said. "I was so thankful to hear that coming from a player. And he's been doing great. He's had some outfield assists and swung the bat really well. He has that intense look in his eyes."

Cho was signed by the SK Wyverns as an undrafted free agent in 2014, and didn't make his debut until 2017. That same year, he made his first postseason appearance, popping out back to catcher as a pinch hitter in a Wild Card loss.

Following a trade to the Wiz in late 2018, Cho has evolved into a solid outfielder with decent on-base and bat-to-ball skills, as attested by his .392 on-base percentage and .296 batting average this year at age 31.

Oh, the biggest position player for his team at 187 centimeters and 95 kilograms, has had a more charmed career than Cho. He had his breakout campaign in 2015 and set career highs in home runs and RBIs in 2016, the two years when the Bears won back-to-back Korean Series titles.

In 2019, Oh established a new career high with 102 RBIs, and earned the Korean Series MVP award after batting 6-for-18 with a home run, two doubles and six RBIs in a four-game sweep of the Kiwoom Heroes.

Oh had a fine regular season in 2020 at age 34, batting .312/.390/.482. And he hit .367 in October, his best batting average in any month this season, but he hasn't been able to carry that into the postseason.

In three games against the Wiz, Oh is 1-for-12 with five strikeouts, all five of them coming during a 0-for-8 stretch in Games 2 and 3.

Doosan manager Kim Tae-hyoung had stuck to the same lineup for all three games, with Oh batting third. With the Wiz pushing back hard, he may be forced to make a change.

Asked about Oh after Game 3, Kim, who often deflects questions about slumping players with a joke or two, turned serious.

"When I watch him at the plate, I can tell he doesn't have his timing down at all," Kim said. "Whether he makes contact or not, it's almost beside the point right now. I am a bit worried about him."

If the Wiz manage to even up the series Friday, Kim will have even more to worry about.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved