Is Cannon of Lee Seung-Yup a Deceptive One?

A `nutritional value controversy` on Lee Seng-Yup (Samsung. 25) is arising.

It has occurred since manager Kim Uug-Ryong showed his dissatisfaction by saying, ``What good is the number of homeruns? Most of them are long-balls hit after the victory or defeat has already been decided.`` Manager Kim used to say, ``Lee Seng-Yup has not been productive at a chance.`` The best hitter for a team is the `clutch hitter`, one who can lead the team to the victory in a much-needed situation with a decisive big hit. According to manager Kim, although Lee Seng-Yup hits many homeruns, he is not a `nutritious` hitter for the team.

Is Lee really a poor hitter at a chance? To analyze that, a comparison between Lotte’s Jose, who is sharing the leading spot in homerun with 31 long-balls, has been made.

· In situations with runners on or without a runner = When there is no runner, Lee’s batting average was 0.282 with 19 homeruns. When runners on, it was 0.290 with 12 homeruns. It means that there has been no big difference between whether runners are on or not. But, there were many solo homeruns. Lotte’s Jose hit better when there were runners on bases. When runners on, his batting average reached nearly 0.400 (0.395) and he hit 4 more homeruns than when without a runner. It means that he is a strong hitter at a chance.

In a situation with runners on scoring position, at least on the second base, Lee’s average was 0.270 with 5 homeruns, while Jose recorded 0.402 with 11 homers. When a runner was on the third base, Lee displayed a poor hitting performance showing that his ability to produce runs has not been good enough.

· Analysis on personal hitting record = Lee Seng-Yup did not record a single sacrifice fly. As his number above indicates, this explains that his record with a runner on the third base was, especially, not good.

He also had 108 strikeouts, more than one per game, and earned 77 walks, a less number comparing to Jose (100 walks). It says that he needs more patience on the batters box. While Jose just walks when pitchers do not give him good balls, Lee Seng-Yup tends to chase even bad balls.

When the hitting record in various situation and his overall record for the season are combined, Lee Seng-Yup has not been strong enough, as manager Kim mentioned, as a cleanup hitter. And homeruns also came out when no runners on. However, it means that he was, relatively speaking, less strong when only compared to Jose. If he hit 0.290 with runners are on, he is no longer a `not nutritious` hitter at all.

Against the `nutritional value controversy`, Lee Seng-Yup said, ``There is not a single hitter who doesn’t want to hit at a chance.`` ``I think the words came out because I was deceived by the enticing balls so many times in this year.`` he added.

Kim Sang-Soo ssoo@donga.com