NC coach Kang In-kwon, who started an 스포츠토토 exhibition game against the LG Twins, placed Park Se-hyuk in the second batting order that day. Coach Kang said, “Park Se-hyuk is a left-handed hitter who can hit left and right,” and added, “When Park Min-woo goes on base, we expect Park Se-hyuk to play a sufficient role as a link to the center batting line.” During this demonstration game, he also added a willingness to experiment with Park Se-hyuk in the second seat.
During the Doosan Bears days, Park Se-hyuk’s batting order was mostly fixed at the bottom. A measure that takes into account the characteristics of the catcher position, which has a heavy defensive burden. Even looking at his career on-base percentage (0.333), it is true that Park Se-hyeok was somewhat lacking in the role of a solver in the top batting line. However, considering the characteristics of Changwon NC Park, the home stadium of NC, where the left and right are deep, synergy is worth expecting if Park Se-hyuk blows the left and right balls well as coach Kang intended. Coach Kang conducted an experiment by placing Park Se-hyeok in the second batting order in a practice match against KT Wiz in Tucson, Arizona on the 28th of last month, two matches against Cheongbaek, and a practice match against LG in Changwon on the 11th.
‘2nd hitter Park Se-hyeok’ faithfully fulfilled Director Kang’s intention at the end of the 3rd inning. At the end of the 3rd inning, leading 1-0, Park Se-hyeok made a hit in front of the right fielder while lead batter Park Min-woo went on base. The batted ball was long enough for first base runner Park Min-woo to advance to third base. As Son Ah-seop’s timely hits were added on the 1st and 3rd bases that followed, NC easily scored.
Until now, catchers have been surrounded by the prejudice that the defensive burden is heavy and their feet are slow. However, as teams began to appear to maximize scoring power through forward placement in accordance with their batting ability, the view of the catcher’s top batting order has also changed. The Hanwha Eagles, who had fun by deploying Choi Jae-hoon in the 2021 season, are representative. Attention is drawn to NC’s move to create a new weapon using Park Se-hyuk’s card and its results.