The Doosan Bears started July after confirming the possibility of a rebound for foreign hitter Jose Rojas in the 5th place jump, winning streak, and winning series of 3 consecutive weekends. The LOHAS revival project, which director Lee Seung-yeop put a lot of effort into, seems to be making some progress.
Doosan won 4-2 in the 8th game of the season against the Lotte Giants of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan on the 2nd. After overtaking Kiwoom Heroes, who suffered a come-from-behind defeat to SSG Landers, they rose from 6th to 5th, aiming for 4th before the All-Star break on the 14th.
One of the harvests of the 3 consecutive weekend trips to Ulsan is the recovery of LOHAS’ sense of hitting. Rojas had 3 hits in 4 at-bats on the 30th, 1 hit in 2 at-bats on the 2nd, 1 run and 2 walks on 3 runs. On the 1st, when he went 3 at-bats with no hits, 2 strikeouts and 1 walk, Lotte right fielder Yoon Dong-hee was caught in the rain, but he threw a sharp ball into the middle right.
Manager Lee Seung-yeop also said, “Rojas’ batted ball caught by Yun Dong-hee is very wasteful. However, regardless of the result, the ball that stretches out is definitely a good sign for Lojas to play games in the future.”
Ahead of this season, Doosan broke up with Jose Fernandez, who served as a key hitter for four years from 2019 to last year. Instead, they recruited Rojas, who played as a big leaguer for the Los Angeles Angels of the US Major League until last year.
The start was refreshing. On April 1st, in the opening match of the regular league against Lotte, Lee Seung-yeop’s leader, career beast girl, was responsible for the victory by hitting the first home run in Korea with a home run to end the playoff.
However, after that, he revealed a big weakness in contact and pioneering. In April, he accepted his report card for the first month, which fell short of expectations, with a batting average of 0.176 (13 hits in 74 at-bats), 4 homers and 11 RBIs in 23 games.
In May, he showed the possibility of a rebound with a batting average of 0.242 (16 hits in 66 at-bats), 5 home runs and 13 RBIs in 20 games, but fell into a severe slump in early June. Coach Lee Seung-yeop eventually sent Lohas down to the second team on the 11th of last month to have time to readjust.
However, even in the Futures League, Rojas did not show any noticeable improvement. 7 games, 30 at-bats, 6 hits, batting average of 0.200, only 2 RBIs. There were no extra-base hits and an on-base percentage of just 0.294. 메이저토토사이트
Coach Lee Seung-yeop called Rojas back to the first team on the 22nd of last month, but Rojas seldom found a sense of hitting. After the call-up, there was no sign of improvement at all with 1 hit in 16 at-bats until the Ulsan expedition.
In a situation where the Doosan coaching staff’s concerns were deepening, manager Lee Seung-yeop decided to accompany the 2nd team hitting coach Lee Young-soo to the 1st team. There was a slight expectation that the existence of a leader who had watched Lojas from the side until recently and remembered the good looks of Lohas during the spring camp in Sydney, Australia in February could be of some help to the revival of Lojas.
Coach Lee Seung-yeop said, “Coach Lee Young-soo has been accompanying the first team since the 27th. I left everything about LOHAS to coach Lee Young-soo.” “he explained.
Also, “Lojas’ position is very important in the team, so I called coach Lee Young-soo from the 2nd team,” he said. First of all, the results have to be produced and the players have to overcome. We are putting in a lot of effort.”
