Hanwha, who are pushing hard to join the top-five fight, have been dealt a blow with the injury of their main catcher Choi Jae-hoon, 34. He will undergo a final medical examination on Oct. 31 and a decision will be made on whether to keep him in the first team.
Choi Jae-hoon was the starting catcher in the game against SSG at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Sept. 29, but was replaced by Guillermo Heredia in the fifth inning due to injury. He was hit on the left hand by Heredia’s bat after a five-pitch foul.
Heredia is known for his big backswing, and earlier in the season, his bat hit Park Se-hyuk in the head. After that incident, Heredia moved his strike point forward slightly to avoid any further problems, but this time it happened again.
Choi immediately went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a microfracture. Hanwha manager Choi Won-ho said, “We’ll do a double check tomorrow. The pitching is fine. We’ll have to make a final decision after the double check. It’s a little uncomfortable to hit,” he explained.
Choi continued, “First, we’ll check again tomorrow and hear the doctor’s opinion and decide whether to take him out of the lineup, or if he’s fine for two or three days, we’ll decide after that if he only went out for a while when (Park) Sang-un was injured or something like that.” He explained, “I don’t know if it’s called a microfracture, if it was always there or if it happened this time. He said he’s always had some.”
If his throwing arm is fine and he needs a little rest, we can consider keeping him on the bench for the rest of the week and using him as an emergency defensive catcher. However, if the recovery period is longer than that, he will have no choice but to drop to the second team.
Meanwhile, Noh Si-hwan, who has been hitting at his best this season, will start as the designated hitter. “He said he would play defense even if I put a designated hitter in, but now that he’s struggling, he asked me to put a designated hitter in,” Choi said with a laugh, adding, “Anyway, we need Kim Tae-yeon to play third base if he goes to the Asian Games,” indicating that he will use Kim Tae-yeon at third base when Noh Si-hwan is the designated hitter.토스카지노
Hanwha’s batting order was Lee Jin-young (right fielder), Jung Won (second baseman), Noh Si-hwan (designated hitter), Chae Eun-sung (first baseman), Kim Tae-yeon (third baseman), Oh Sun-jin (shortstop), Williams (left fielder), Park Sang-un (catcher), and Moon Hyun-bin (center fielder). Han Seung-hyuk is the starter. Choi explained that the rest of the bullpen, except for Kang Jae-min and Lee Tae-yang, are available.