What will the strongest batting order of the Kia Tigers in 2025 be like? With the addition of new foreign hitter Patrick Wisdom and the departure of existing foreign hitter Socrates Brito, there will likely be slight changes in the batting order of the team. Attention is focusing on the optimal batting order that Kia Tigers coach Lee Bum-ho will present after the off-season and spring camp. 토토사이트

KIA officially announced its contract with Wisdom on the 26th for a total of $1 million (about 1.4 billion won) with a down payment of $200,000 and an annual salary of $800,000. 

Wizdom, who was born in 1991, was 188 centimeters tall and weighed 99 kilograms, and was physically fit. During his seven seasons in the Major League, Wizdom played in 455 games and posted a batting average of 0.209, 274 hits, 88 homers, 207 RBIs and 192 runs scored. During his seven seasons in the Minor League, Wizdom played in 439 games and recorded a batting average of 0.253, 391 hits, 89 homers, 277 RBIs and 248 runs scored. 

Wisdom achieved more than 20 home runs on the major league stage for three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023. Wisdom is considered to have an outstanding slugging power that recorded the most 28 home runs in a season, as well as above-average baserunning speed and compliance with throwing ability.

Shim Jae-hak, general manager of KIA, said, "It would be great if Wizdom played the same game as Davison (NC Dinos), but first of all, he has the ability to produce fast barrel hits, so I'm looking forward to it more. I heard that there are a lot of strikeouts, but there was a lot of swing and miss on the ball entering the zone, not the bat going out on the bad ball. If you come to the KBO League stage, your batting average can rise a little more. I watched the Mexican League in person, and I felt more confident in recruiting Wizdom because I thought the level of opposing pitchers was higher than that of the KBO League."

By recruiting Wisdom, Kia expects to strengthen its position at the first base and stabilize its overall infield defense. In the 2024 season, Kia ranked eighth in the league with 0.85 in contribution to victory (War) compared to its replacement at the first base. If Wisdom raises this figure significantly, Kia's batters will likely become even more powerful.

Shim said, "The first baseman position in the 2024 season had the lowest WAR level among all our positions. I think we can fill that gap by recruiting Wisdom. And if Wisdom becomes the first baseman, we can expect to stabilize the overall infield defense." 

Attention is also focusing on what kind of batting order Wisdom will enter. "Wizdom's batting order is a matter for coach Lee Bum-ho to decide on the spot," Shim said. "Since we are right-handed hitters, it will definitely help organize the team's batting order." 

Considering coach Lee Bum-ho's tendency in the 2024 season, Wisdom is likely to be placed in the fifth batting order. First of all, there is a high possibility that Park Chan-ho and Choi Won-joon, who are preliminary FA qualifiers, will be placed in the table setterjin. In addition, captain Na Sung-bum will enter as the fourth batter after Kim Do-young, who was used as the third hitter. Wisdom and Choi Hyung-woo can be followed by the fifth and sixth batters, respectively. If Kim Sun-bin enters the seventh batting order, the left and right zigzags batting lineups will lead to a perfect picture. 

Eventually, the biggest concern is expected to be the second batting order. This is because Socrates, a foreign hitter, was the right type for the second batting order. Attention is focusing on whether Choi Won-joon will fill Socrates' vacancy well and establish himself as No. 2 or Kim Do-young will be forward-deployed from No. 3 to No. 2. I wonder how coach Lee Bum-ho will produce the results of his thoughts on the strongest combination of team batting in 2025.