Samsung Lions ace Won Tae-in usually takes care of his teammate and younger brother, Lee Jae-hyun, by buying him meals.
When Won Tae-in is on the field, Lee Jae-hyun’s bat swings harder.
In the 18 games Won has started this season, Jae-hyun has a batting average of .350. 350 (60-for-21) with two home runs, seven RBIs, and nine runs scored.
His first home run of the season also came with Won on the mound (April 4 against Hanwha), and in his most recent start (August 3 against KIA), Lee went 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBI.
Lee hasn’t missed a day in Won’s last eight games. He’s definitely earning his keep.
In the meantime, Jae-hyun has developed into one of the best “big bat” shortstops in the league.
With nine home runs this season, Jae-hyun has hit more home runs than any other starting shortstop in the KBO among the league’s 10 teams. It’s only a matter of time before he hits his first double-digit home run. The gap to second-place Kim Joo-won (six) is also quite large.
Lee Jae-hyun credits his “big brother” Won Tae-in, saying, “(Won) takes care of him so much,” and “I think Tae-in tries to hit better whenever he’s on the mound because he wants to reciprocate.
Won Tae-in is also in the midst of a recent “ticket price controversy” among fans.
On days when he’s not on the mound, fans joke that he’s one of the most passionate Samsung fans and ask him to “pay to watch baseball”.
“It’s like a fan watching a game from the dugout,” Won said, adding, “I’m still doing well on the field these days, so I don’t think I need to pay to enter the stadium.”
In fact, Won has a 2.45 ERA in nine games since June, tied for fourth in the league with Hanwha’s Moon Dong-ju, behind KT’s Ko Young-pyo (1.55), Hanwha’s Peña (2.00) and Doosan’s Kwak-bin (2.44).
With a total of 56.2 innings pitched and 929 pitches thrown over the same period, Won has been the “last bastion” of Samsung’s mound, which has fallen to last place.
With the growth of Lee Jae-hyun and the support of Won Tae-in, Samsung has gone 12-11 since July with a winning percentage of more than 5 percent. The gap to ninth place, 먹튀검증 which was once 6.5 games, has been narrowed to zero. Both No. 1 LG and No. 2 SSG met Samsung in the second half of the season and were swept in a three-game series.
As the battle for the top spot intensifies, fans continue to visit baseball stadiums until the end of the season. The KBO’s ‘men of value’ are making the baseball stadium food and ticket prices more valuable for fans.