Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Slugger Lee Dae-ho struggling for homers
By Jung Min-ho
Orix Buffaloes cleanup hitter Lee Dae-ho is faltering in the home run and RBI race, as his team remains bottom of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Pacific League.
He last cleared the fence on Aug. 26 against the Saitama Seibu Lions, while reigning home run king Takeya Nakamura struck his 22nd home run Friday to top the standings, now with one more than Lee. The Korean slugger has a league-leading 77 RBIs, his last also coming in the game against the Lions but runner-up Nakamura is closing that gap, now on 66. Lee’s batting average, which used to be above .3, has dropped to .286, placing him tenth in that category.
In Tuesday’s home game against the Chiba Lotte Marines, Lee failed to capitalize on the momentum of a multi-hit performance the day before against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles with no hit in three at bats.
The 30-year-old has just three hits in 20 at bats for the past five matches, leaving a big question mark on whether he has anything left in the tank after playing 119 games this season as of Wednesday morning.
“Nearly five months into the season, Japanese pitchers seem to have discovered Lee’s strengths and weaknesses and strategically targeting batters’ weaknesses is what Japanese pitchers are good at. That has probably led to Lee’s recent slump,” said KBS sports commentator Lee Yong-chul. “However, every player undergoes ups and downs no matter how good they are. With the experience he has gained from this season, he needs to come up with ways to adjust to this tactic.”
The commentator said that the Orix batter will do better in upcoming games and next season because he is an intelligent player and highly capable of coping with new situations.
Lee’s testing times are expected to continue Friday when the Buffaloes face the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, currently second in their division. The Osaka-based club has not won the domestic series since 1996 but is well-known to local fans as other Koreans such as Park Chan-ho and Lee Seung-yeop have played there.