Lotte Giants’ foreign ace Charlie Barnes (29) will take the mound with the task of snapping a three-game losing streak.

Barnes will take the mound against the Doosan Bears of the 2024 Shinhan Sol Bank KBO League on Saturday at Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan, South Korea.

It will be his second start since returning from injury.

After struggling in April, going 1-2 with a 4.29 ERA in six starts, Barnes rebounded in May. In five starts, he went 2-0 with a 2.60 ERA. In 27⅔ innings pitched, he struck out 38 batters.

However, an injury ended his first half early.

On May 26 against the Samsung Lions, Barnes left the mound after just 1⅔ innings with left thigh tightness, and the next day he was diagnosed with a micro-damage to his left adductor muscle and removed from the roster.

After being sidelined for more than a month, Barnes returned to the mound on Tuesday after a 45-day absence.

In his first start of the second half of the season, Barnes pitched a strong game against the SSG Landers on Tuesday.

He shut down the SSG lineup for six innings, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out nine. He struck out nine.

Barnes was coming back from injury, so he was limited to 80 pitches. Barnes threw 77 pitches in six innings. If he hadn’t been limited, he could have thrown a complete game.

Lotte, which had lost the last two games of the first half to Doosan and the first game of the second half to SSG on the 9th, was in the midst of a three-game losing streak, 메이저사이트 but they were able to capitalize on Barnes’ strong pitching to escape the three-game losing streak.

Once again, Barnes’ shoulders are heavy.

Lotte broke a three-game losing streak on the 10th against SSG, but then fell into a three-game losing streak again. They lost to SSG on the 11th and KT Wiz on the 12th and 13th.

Currently in ninth place, 5.5 games behind fifth-place SSG, Lotte’s fall baseball hopes are still alive. They need to break the losing streak sooner rather than later if they want to make a run at the mid-table.

If Barnes is able to show the same form he had before his injury, Lotte will be able to rebound.

Barnes has made one appearance against Doosan this season. On April 7, he pitched a quality start against Doosan, allowing two runs on six hits (one home run) with five strikeouts and two walks in six innings.

That’s what you want from your ace when your team is in a losing streak and you need to break it. Barnes will once again take the mound with the streak-stopper specialty.

“Don’t think about taking off your uniform.”

Kang Min-ho (39-Samsung Lions) hit a three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning of a 2-2 tie against Doosan in Jamsil on April 14. Doosan skipped Gu Jae-rook in favor of Kang Min-ho, and he proved them wrong.

It was Kang’s 327th career home run. He already holds the record for most home runs by a catcher. With one more, he’ll tie Shim Jung-soo for 10th place on the KBO’s all-time home run list. Two more would move him into ninth place, and three would put him in sole possession of eighth.

“I’ve been playing for a long time from a young age, so I think I’m getting more and more top 10s. I’ve done well, but I’m thinking more about how healthy I am,” he smiles.

Kang Min-ho isn’t the only player who exemplifies ‘veteran power’.

Choi Hyung-woo (41) of the KIA Tigers. Choi is batting .288 with 17 home runs and 80 RBIs in 82 games this season. He was the oldest player to win MVP honors at the All-Star Game on June 6, and has been on a tear since hitting a grand slam in the first game of the second half. Kang Min-ho said, “What (Choi) is doing is so good that I’m impressed as a junior. Last year, when he said he was having a hard time, I was sitting in the catcher’s box and said, ‘Don’t think about taking off your uniform. We seniors need you to stay on the field a little longer,'” he said. I often say things like this for the juniors. Some people call it greed, 안전놀이터 but I don’t think it’s greed. The longer we’re here, the longer the younger guys can wear the uniform. If you’re not competitive, you have to take it off, but if you’re competitive, I don’t think you have to decide when to retire. In that sense, (Choi) is doing a great job for me.”

Kang Min-ho is batting .299 with eight home runs and 41 RBIs in 87 games this season, helping to power the team’s center field. In his nine games in July, his batting average has increased by a whopping 5 percent.

He also has four home runs.

“I was too bad in the first half,” Kang said. In the second half, I think what didn’t work in the first half is coming out little by little,” he said. “I’m not just a professional baseball player wearing a uniform anymore, I’m in a position where I have to survive. If my performance drops, I have to take off my clothes, so I’m working hard every day. I prepared myself thinking that even if I didn’t do well in the first half, if I did what I could, the turning point would definitely come. In the second half, when the players were a little tired, I felt good as a senior to make a hit that helped the team win.”

Samsung, is in second place games behind the first-place KIA Tigers

Samsung, led by Kang Min-ho’s blistering bat, is in second place with 48 wins and 40 losses through 15 games, 4.5 games behind the first-place KIA Tigers (52 wins and 35 losses). The team will begin a three-game series against Kia in Gwangju on the 16th to try to reduce the deficit. Samsung recently made some rebounding moves, releasing David McKinnon and bringing in Ruben Cardenas as its new foreign bat. “The manager said that the real battle for the top spot will be in the summer, and now that we’ve done so well without a foreign hitter, I think we’ll have a great synergy with the new foreign hitter,” Kang said.

Kang Min-ho is especially eager for Samsung to do well this year. He hasn’t played in the Korean Series since joining the team in 2004. For him, reaching the Korean Series is one of his biggest goals as an active player. “The team goal is to do what we can without worrying about winning, but personally, I want to go to the Korean Series. It’s not too far away, so I want to smell it,” he says.

The first requirement for success as a foreign athlete is cultural adaptation. It doesn’t matter how good you are, if you can’t adapt to the culture, you’ll be out of the game early. There have been many cases of big-name players who made a name for themselves in the big leagues packing their bags after a dismal performance in Korea.

Samsung Lions manager Park Jin-man emphasized the importance of Ruben Cardenas (outfielder), who joined the team as a replacement for foreign hitter David McKinnon, saying, “It’s important for him to adapt to the domestic stage quickly.”

Samsung’s foreign pitcher Connor Seabold has been a great help for Cardenas. “Connor will help Cardenas adapt a lot,” the club official said, citing the examples of Jose Pirela (outfielder) and Albert Suarez (pitcher), who played for Samsung in 2022 and 2023.

Pirela and Suarez, both from Venezuela, have been close friends since childhood. Pirela joined Samsung in 2021, and the following year, he helped Suarez settle in as a new member of the Samsung family. Connor and Cardenas played together at California State University (CSU) Fullerton.

More than just teammates, they’re best friends.

“I’m very close with Cardenas,” Connor says. We played baseball together for two years in college and were roommates for one of those years. We stayed in touch after he went pro, and I attended his wedding. We’re also close with our wives. We played on the same college softball team. We have a lot of connections,” he said.

“It’s great to be with Connor,” Cardenas said. It’s great to be reunited with my best friend,” said Cardenas. “I told him a little bit about Korean professional baseball and we’ll talk more about it later,” Connor said.

Cardenas, who will be playing in Asia for the first time, 카지노사이트 추천 said, “It’s nice to have a new challenge. It’s important to adapt well, and I think I’m good at adapting,” he said. “He’s got a great personality and he’s a fun guy to play baseball with,” Connor said. I think the fans are going to like him.”

“My advice to Cardenas is to enjoy his time in Korea and embrace the different culture and game of Korean professional baseball,” Connor added.

“I’m looking forward to playing on the same team with Cardenas again,” said Connor, who will be wearing the same uniform as Cardenas. I think we’re going to have a good synergy, and I think we’re going to have a good synergy with the other guys as well.”

Cardenas, meanwhile, is a 6-foot-2, 185-pound right-handed hitting outfielder from the United States.

He has no big league experience. In 554 career minor league games, Cardenas batted .2043/.555 with 99 home runs, 362 RBIs and 333 runs scored.

In 75 games with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs of the Philadelphia Phillies this season, he batted .289 (80-for-289) with 20 home runs, 56 RBI, 52 runs scored and 10 stolen bases. Cardenas ranks second in home runs and sixth in RBIs in the pitcher-heavy Triple-A International League. He is a prolific long ball producer, hitting 20 or more home runs in the minors every year.

Cardenas will get his feet wet in a two-game series against the Lotte Giants in the Futures Summer League at Sajik Stadium on July 17 and 18, before making his Korean debut against Lotte at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on July 19.

One of the biggest hits this season for the LG Twins of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) has been Kim “Bumbao” Bum-seok, 20. After being called up to the first team in mid-April, the big batting prospect showed off his hitting talent and gave the LG bats a new lease on life. Moving between designated hitter, catcher, and first base, he batted 2-for-9 (28-for-94) with five home runs, 19 RBIs, and an .844 OPS in 32 games through May.

Since June, however, he has slowed down, going 2-for-3 with no home runs, six RBIs and a .608 OPS in 11 games, and has spent more time on the bench. He missed 15 of the team’s 26 games since June before being removed from the first team roster on March 3.

Kim started in the No. 7 spot against Gochuk Kiwoom on Feb. 2 but was removed after striking out in two consecutive at-bats and was sent down to the second team the next day. By the 12th, he was batting .318 (7-for-18) with one home run and eight RBIs in five games in the Futures League.

Ten days later, Kim was reinstated to the first team roster on the 13th against Daejeon Hanwha. LG, which had slumped to fourth place after losing four straight games to start the second half of the season, needed Kim to put pressure on opponents with his mere presence at the plate.

However,

LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop did not rush Kim into the first team. “We’ll see a little bit more. There is no set date. He can’t continue to play in the first team. He can continue to play in the second team, so he needs to play more and get a sense of the game.”

With catcher Park Dong-won, first baseman Austin Dean, and designated hitter Kim Hyun-soo, there’s not much room for Kim to play regularly. When he’s hitting well, 카지노사이트 추천 he can be used as a pinch-hitter, but when he’s not, it’s not good for his development to keep him in the first team.

“Right now, Bum-seok is not a solid starter. In the first team, you have to play in and out of the game, but a young player needs to basically play more than 350 at-bats a year to grow. It’s more efficient for him to grow if he experiences both the first and second teams and gains hitting experience. That’s what we’re trying to create.” Kim had 134 at-bats in 43 games for the first team and 62 at-bats in 15 games for the second team this year, totaling 196 at-bats in 58 games.

“You don’t just develop players. There should be a manual on how to develop them. It’s not just about having him in the first team. We don’t want Bum-seok to perform right now. The best way for him to gain the most at this time is to keep playing. Only then can he become a player who can lead the LG Twins’ performance in the near future.”

Being on the first team isn’t the only way to develop a player.

For a young player, consistent playing time is the best way to grow. Since LG plans to develop Kim as a catcher in the long run, they couldn’t just keep him in the first team based on his hitting. After being sent down to the second team, Kim played four of the seven games as the starting catcher.

“In the next three years or so, Bum-seok should be the starting catcher. (Park) Dong-won will be at the end of his free agency contract. Even if we get another Dong-won, it will be much better for the team if Bum-seok’s catching percentage goes up. By then, Dong-won will be older, and even if he plays two or three games a week at catcher, it will be a big plus for the team. Until then, it’s one of the things I have to do for LG whether I’m on the team or not,” he emphasized.

Kim had a two-game hitting streak, including a home run, against Doosan in the Futures League on April 13-14. After being demoted to the second team, he exploded in the Futures League, batting .346 (9-for-26) with two home runs and 10 RBIs in seven games. Yoon sees Kim as one of the players who could move up from the second team sooner rather than later. As he has regained his feel for the game in the field, he could be called up to the first team in the near future.