Doosan Bears’ Yang Yang-ji (36) has been removed from the first team roster for the first time since joining the club due to injury.
Doosan removed Yang from its first-team roster ahead of its game against the Samsung Lions in Jamsil on Aug. 8. “After undergoing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan at the hospital yesterday (July 7), he was told that he had a 1.8-centimeter micro-tear in his left lateral muscle,” a club official said. “The player himself said that he wanted to ‘play under control,’ but since it could lead to a bigger injury, we decided that rest was the priority, so we decided to remove him from the first team.” 안전놀이터
Yang was replaced by Jang Seung-hyun at the end of the game against KT Wiz in Jamsil on April 4 due to swollen tonsils, but he also started to feel something wrong with his side. He was only able to play as a designated hitter against KT on the 5th, and missed the next day (the 6th) as his side continued to hurt when he coughed.
Doosan plans to monitor Yang’s physical condition and give him two to three weeks to recover. During this time, Jang Seung-hyun and Park Yoo-yeon will share the catcher’s mask. Park Yoo-yeon, who was called up on Friday, was drafted by Doosan with the 60th overall pick in the second round of the 2017 rookie draft and is considered to have high potential for growth in defense and pitching leadoff.
Filling in the gaps in the batting order is also important. Yang has been the centerpiece of the Doosan lineup this season with a .323 batting average, .906 OPS, nine home runs, and 44 RBIs in 87 games. He’s been batting fourth since mid-June, and Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop is hoping that traditional fourth baseman Kim Jae-hwan, who has been up and down this season, can rebound and offset Yang’s production. Infielder Kim Min-hyuk, who was named to the first-team roster in Yang’s place, has also shown promise in the Futures (second-tier) League, batting .306 last month.