There is still more time until the season of the official ‘Season Prospect’. Usually, it is not until March 20th, when the second week of the exhibition game passes, that the so-called professional baseball expert group comes out with a concrete forecast for the season in the form of ‘○ strong, ○ middle, and weak’.
However, in an informal setting, officials from each club and commentators are already spending time sharing their thoughts on the new season. Among the 10 clubs, there is a club with the largest deviation in prospects. Doosan is entering its first season under the leadership system of Lee Seung-yeop, a legend from the ‘national hitter’.
Recently, SBS commentator Lee Soon-cheol classified Doosan into the top 3 of the new season along with LG and KT. There are quite a few experts who point to Doosan as the club with the greatest change based on team performance last season, although not as much as Commissioner Lee Soon-cheol. However, on the other hand, there are also views that it will take at least two to three years for Doosan to recover its strength as much as a few years ago. Even inside the Doosan club, they are diagnosing that they are not at the top right now.
The reason why Doosan’s season prospects are so diverse seems to be because Doosan has so many variables this season. In a way, this year’s Doosan is also the team with the most ‘variables’ out of the 10 clubs.
First of all, the calculation of the ‘Plus Alpha’ multiplier due to the newly recruited FA (free agent) Yang Eui-ji may be different. Yang Eui-ji is the best in offense and defense among catchers in the KBO League. In terms of WAR (contribution to victory versus substitute players), one of the quantified records, as of last year, it was 4.98 (statistics). It is a significantly better figure than Park Se-hyeok (NC), whose WAR was 1.16 after a sluggish performance as Doosan’s main catcher last year.
However, the expected value of Yang Eui-ji’s name is more than that. Eui-ji Yang had a WAR of 6.64 in 2018, the last year he played for Doosan, and also excelled at 6.83 WAR in 2019, the first year of his transfer to NC. This is because there is an expectation that the team’s pitching staff will be able to boost their strength with the intangible power that comes from the temperament of ‘bear fox’. First of all, the size is a variable.
The movement of Kim Jae-hwan and Su-bin Su, who are in their second and third years of free agency, respectively, is also a variable. The reason Doosan struggled last year was also because they performed far below their average. Kim Jae-hwan ran the season moderately with 23 homers and an OPS of 0.800, but his WAR was 2.83, which was not as expected. Kim Jae-hwan kept the league’s top 30 with a WAR of 3.83 until 2021카지노사이트, although not as much as the 2017 season when he ranked first in the league with a WAR of 7.37, but was pushed out of the top 50 in 2022. In addition, Soo-bin Su’s position in the team fell sharply with a WAR of 0.69 last year. The variable is their resilience.
Another is the contribution of foreign pitchers to the team. Doosan endured a season with Robert Stark and replacement foreign pitcher Brandon Waddell amid the exit after ace Ariel Miranda’s injury last year. They only managed to win 14 jointly (13 losses). Doosan won 23 wins (14 losses) in the 2021 season with foreign pitchers and 28 wins (6 losses) in 2020. This is a season multiplier that Doosan, who replaced both foreign pitchers, could possibly regain.
Another is a shortstop. Doosan is a traditional infield kingdom. But last year it wasn’t. Veteran Kim Jae-ho was sluggish, and Ahn Jae-seok did not grow as much as expected. Other cards such as Park Gye-beom and Jeon Min-jae did not change the flow. This year, starting with Kim Jae-ho, the atmosphere is preparing for the season of pride. Ahn Jae-seok is also experiencing the same season as his own baseball career. Doosan as a whole is a variable.
The best variable may be the bench. The first season after saying goodbye to coach Kim Tae-hyung, who had 3 consecutive Korean series and 3 normal records. Coach Lee Seung-yeop’s aura of leadership that draws attention from the entire league is working, and practical changes are also being seen in the contents of training. It is a plus factor that former head coach Kim Han-soo was on the same boat. However, the evaluation may change depending on the gaze of the bench, which is still a variable.