The so-called "Sungdamjang," which was the point of Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan until last year, has disappeared. How are the coaching staff and players preparing.토토사이트

After the completion of the training in November last year, Lotte constructed an auxiliary fence for the outfield at Sajik Stadium. The biggest gist is adjusting the height of the auxiliary fence in the outfield. As a result, the height of the fence in the outfield, which was 6 meters, has also been lowered.

An official of the club told Star News, "The high fence has obstructed the view of fans in the middle of the outfield seats, so we will proceed with the construction to improve it." In addition, the fence was lowered to strengthen the attack power of mid- and long-range players with good launch angles, such as Son Ho-young, Yoon Dong-hee, Ko Seung-min and Na Seung-yeop."

Sajik Baseball Stadium has not changed much in fence distance and height since its opening in 1985 until 2021, but it has mostly been on its side ahead of the 2022 season. The home plate was pulled 2.884m toward the headquarters seat, creating the effect of expanding the outfield.

The distance to the central fence has increased from 118 meters to 120.5 meters, while the distance to the left and right fences has increased from 95 meters to 95.8 meters. Notably, the height of the auxiliary fence in the outfield wall was raised from 4.8 meters to 6 meters, making a change that is clearly visible visually. As a result, the team was nicknamed "Sungdamjang" after Sung Min-gyu, the former Lotte general manager at the time.

The decision was made for strategic reasons. Since Lee Dae-ho (37 homers) and Jeon Jun-woo (33 homers) in 2018, Lotte has not had a batter with 30 homers, but in the end, it has increased the fence despite the decrease in batters' slugging to strengthen the mound. Sajik Stadium has had high walls, but its distance from home plate has been relatively short, increasing both.

It was effective on the mound. Lotte, which had 72 home runs in Sajik in 2021, saw its home run margin decrease to 27 home runs in 2023, while its home run margin also remained the same from -21 in 2021 (homer 51/homer 72), to +9 (homer 36/homer 27) in 2023, and to 49 last year. However, in offense, it was often the case that a ball that would cross over hit the fence. One batter even said, "I feel anxious because I can catch a ball that would cross over to another stadium."

What kind of perspective do they have on the change? When asked whether the change in the height of the fence will have an impact, Lim Hoon (40), the batting coach who coached the Lotte lineup last year, said, "I will give the same guidance." "I have a desire to push the fence further forward," he said. "I am not thinking about asking for a different measure just because the fence has been lowered."

Coach Lim said, "I think we just have to follow the directions that I gave to our plan or routine that we did last year." This can be seen as a concern that Lotte's overall performance last year, including second place in the team batting average (0.285), third place in scoring (802 points), and second place in the OPS (0.782), would backfire after touching it.

It is welcome from the standpoint of the batter. "Batters are good. There is a situation where a hit that will hit the fence goes over," catcher Yoo Kang-nam (33), who hit 10 home runs in 2023, said. "It is great, but something comes true when it hits the center."

Yoo Kang-nam, however, said he would not pay attention to defense from the standpoint of the catcher. "Rather than paying attention to the fence, I try not to allow hitters to hit the ball," he said. "Actually, Sajik Stadium is not as close as other batter-friendly stadiums. That's why I try to focus on our pitchers and opposing hitters, not paying attention to the stadium. I don't try to feel pressure."