For a moment, he seemed to be watching “King Ha-sung” Kim Ha-sung (28, San Diego), who has recently performed the best defense show in the Major League. He’s now the hero of the game. Shin Min-jae (27), who used to be a backup runner and now holds the starting second baseman position of the No. 1 team.
The LG Twins came from behind to win 8-7 after a neck-and-neck race against the KT Wiz in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League home game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul the previous day (6th). With this victory, LG marked 48 wins, 2 draws, and 28 losses, leading the league alone. The gap with the league’s second-ranked SSG Landers widened to 2.5 games.
Ahead of the game, LG’s Kim Min-sung, who played as an all-weather infielder, was excluded from the first-tier entry. It was due to a left thigh muscle injury. Kim Min-sung played mainly as a second baseman this season. At the same time, he was in charge of Oh Ji-hwan’s shortstop position, Moon Bo-kyung’s third base, and Austin’s first base position. It was literally an all-weather performance.
Kim Min-sung is out. Ahead of the game, LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said, “Kim Min-sung will have to miss more than a month due to damage to his left thigh muscles.” I’m old, and I’ve played a lot this season. He probably didn’t know he would run this much.(laughs) You’ve been really good. Kim Min-sung’s role will be played by Son Ho-young and Jung Joo-hyun, he said. And it was Shin Min-jae who was in charge of Kim Min-sung’s second base.
Shin Min-jae is expected to continue to play as the main second baseman while Kim Min-sung is absent. On this day, Shin Min-jae started as the second baseman and the ninth batter and contributed to the team’s victory by playing a big role in offense and defense.
The dominant position was defense. LG led 4-2 in the top of the sixth inning. Kang Hyun-woo’s ball rolled toward second base with one out and runners on second and third bases. For now, the third baseman stepped home relatively leisurely. However, 토토체험머니 at this time, Shin Min-jae sprayed the ball toward third base without delay after catching it. In the end, Park Byung-ho, who was the runner on second base, was caught by Moon Bo-kyung’s tag and was out. Shin Min-jae chose a bold third base throw, not a normal throw to first base. Online, LG fans said they got goosebumps when they saw the scene. It was as if Kim Ha-sung, who is currently playing in the U.S. stage, had a fantastic defensive sense. Recently, Kim Ha-sung often caught the leading runner with a bold third base throw while watching shortstop or second baseman defense.
Shin Min-jae also flew in the attack. In the fifth inning, Park Hae-min’s sacrifice bunt hit a timely hit to the center field with one out and runners on second and third bases. After stealing second base, he went to third base during Hong Chang-ki’s sacrifice hit and scored during Moon Sung-joo’s timely hit to the left.
In the sixth inning, he made an infield hit to third base with two outs and a chance to second base. Although he was caught by Hwang Jae-kyun’s good defense, Shin Min-jae’s feet were so fast. Hwang Jae-kyun gave up throwing to first base after catching the ball. In the end, he stepped on third base on Hong Chang-ki’s hit and stepped home on Moon Sung-joo’s timely hit. He also set the stage for the winning goal in the eighth inning. He made a sacrifice bunt that sent Park Hae-min to third base with no outs and runners on second base. In the end, Park Hae-min was able to win by stepping home when Hong Chang-ki hit a timely double to the right. Shin Min-jae’s performance on the day was two hits in three at-bats, one RBI, and two runs scored.
Shin Min-jae, a graduate of Incheon High School, was nominated by the Doosan Bears as a nurturing player in 2015. He then moved to LG through the second KBO draft held in November 2017, and officially signed a contract with the LG Twins in 2019 after completing his military service. He played 81 games (at-bats) in the 2019 season, but only 14 started. Because the main focus was good, he mainly played the role of a pinch-runner in the match.
Shin Min-jae, who had a batting average of 0.308 (8 hits in 26 at-bats) in 68 games in the 2020 season, played only 32 games in the 2021 season and 14 games in the 2022 season, respectively. However, this season, Shin Min-jae played 63 games under the strong trust of manager Yeom Kyung-yeop, who uses specialists in the right place. He has a batting average of 0.341 (29 hits in 85 at-bats) with 5 RBIs and 24 points. Above all, he ranks first in the KBO League stolen base category with 21 stolen bases. There are two differences from Kim Hye-sung (Kiem, 19), who is second in stolen bases. At the current pace, he can be seen as the first stolen base king in his life.
Coach Yeom said of Shin Min-jae, “He is the best player on our team. It can be considered that there is no double play. It has good contact and ability to hit surprise bunt well. The defense has also improved a lot through training. “It is highly valuable to use in a one-to-two-point game,” he said. Oh Ji-hwan, the core of the LG infield, also said, “There is definitely a bold side to Shin Min-jae’s defense after the game on the 6th. There is no hesitation. Of course, defense has to have a lot of experience,” he said about the third base throw defense in the top of the sixth inning, “I think such a play came out because I was thinking about it in advance. It was amazing. “He told me that it was really cool at that moment,” he said with a thumbs up.
Now, LG will move to Busan and play three consecutive games against the Lotte Giants over the weekend. What kind of performance will Shin Min-jae play. LG fans’ expectations for Shin Min-jae are increasing.