Effect of fielder stamina distribution when using designated hitter Kang Baek-ho as catcher It's positive for the team, but Catcher's transformation depends on Kang Baek-ho's will.
kt wiz kang baekho
Professional baseball KT Wiz is considering whether to appoint designated hitter Kang Baek-ho (24) as a catcher.
Ahead of the 2024 professional baseball home game against the KIA Tigers held at Suwon KT Wiz Park on the 3rd, KT coach Lee Kang-cheol said, "I had Baek-ho Kang play catcher in the last game against the Hanwha Eagles, and he performed well without any tension. He catches the ball well and has a good shoulder." He said.
Although they did not say anything about whether Kang Baek-ho will be hired as a catcher in the future, they seem to be open to the possibility of a change in position.
Kang Baek-ho played as a catcher in the bottom of the 8th inning of a visiting game against Hanwha held at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on the 31st of last month, with the team trailing 1-13.
Although it was an 'event-like' appearance when the game was in good spirits, Kang Baek-ho blocked the first inning without any major problems.
After seeing this, manager Lee Kang-cheol began to seriously think about hiring Kang Baek-ho as catcher.
It is unlikely that Kang Baek-ho will be hired as a catcher starting this season, but if he expresses his intention to play as a catcher and participates in training, his position may change next season.
Kang Baek-ho made a name for himself as a pitcher and catcher while attending Seoul High School.
After joining KT through the 2018 rookie draft, he played the outfield and first baseman positions to focus on hitting, but was unable to settle down due to his unstable defense.
This season, he is only serving as a designated hitter.
If Kang Baek-ho acts as a backup catcher, KT can smoothly control traffic on the other lines.
There will be more space in the designated hitter position, which will also help in allocating the stamina of senior fielders.
The catcher's threshold has also been lowered due to external factors.
Starting this year, the KBO League introduced the Automatic Pitching System (ABS), also known as 'robot umpire', to improve the catcher's framing ability (the act of adjusting the mitt to receive a favorable decision from the umpire when catching a pitcher's ball). This is no longer needed.
All you need is ball mixing, throwing ability, and catching ability.
However, the KT team cannot force Kang Baek-ho to change his position.
When you take on the role of catcher, you have to learn the tendencies of other teams' hitters and have more things to pay attention to, making it difficult to focus solely on hitting.
Kang Baek-ho's transformation into a catcher is entirely dependent on his own will. 19가이드03
