Kiwoom is currently playing the season without a foreign bat.
Edison Russell is out with an injury. Russell left the game against Hanwha on March 16 with a sore left wrist. He was placed on the disabled list on March 23.
Russell, who first joined the Kiwoom in 2020, was released after the season and returned to the KBO this season in a Kiwoom uniform. He hit .286 with four home runs and 42 RBIs in 59 games before going down with an injury.
Ten days passed before Russell was placed on the disabled list. But Kiwoom manager Hong Won-ki isn’t going to call him up anytime soon.토토사이트
“I’m still cautiously talking to the training part about whether he can play before the All-Star break,” said Hong Won-ki before the game against Gochuk SSG on the second day.
For now, the manager wants Russell to be in perfect shape. “It’s a cautious part because the injury is not completely healed and it can be called up and then lengthened again,” Hong said.
Fortunately, Kiwoom hasn’t felt Russell’s absence too much. In the two days since Russell’s absence, Kiwoom’s team batting average is 0.273, which ranks fourth out of 10 clubs in the same period. That’s because a returning Lee Jung-hoo is batting .348 in that span, while Kim Hye-sung (0.364) and Song Sung-moon (0.364) are hitting like crazy.
“It would be better if she could come back before the end of the first half and help the team, but we need to make sure she’s healthy,” Hong said.
Kiwoom has nine games left before the All-Star break on April 14. Having climbed to sixth place in the standings, Kiwoom has one game against fifth-place Doosan, two against fourth-place Lotte, and 2.5 against third-place NC.
But Kiwoom doesn’t just want a first-half ranking, so Hong plans to take a longer view of the season and be more cautious about the timing of Russell’s call-up.