Daejeon: After three consecutive hitless games by his slugger Austin Dean in the Korean Series, LG Twins manager Youm Kyoung-youb has seen enough. Youm removed Dean from his usual No. 3 spot and put him in the fifth spot for Game 4 of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) championship series against the Hanwha Eagles on Thursday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Moon Bo-gyeong, who is leading the Twins with a .583 average (7-for-12) and seven RBIs in the series out of the No. 5 spot, will bat cleanup Thursday. Kim Hyun-soo, who had been in the cleanup spot the first three games, will bat third.
Dean is 0-for-11 with three walks and five strikeouts in this series, a shell of his regular-season self that produced a team-best 31 home runs, along with 95 RBIs and a robust .313/.393/.595 line. The Twins had used the exact same starting lineup for the first three games this series, and Dean is the only one among those nine players without a hit.
Dean performed well in his KBO postseason debut during the 2023 Korean Series, when he batted 7-for-20 with a homer and five RBIs to help the Twins beat the KT Wiz in five games. However, he was held to just one hit in 15 at-bats in the second round of the 2024 postseason against the Samsung Lions, and that trend has extended to this fall.
"He's been trying to do too much," Youm said in his pregame media session at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon. "That has affected his balance in the box."
The Twins are reeling from a 7-3 loss in Game 3 on Wednesday, in which the bullpen's meltdown led to a six-spot by the Eagles in the bottom eighth. Youm said closer You Young-chan should have gone after hitters and pounded the zone, instead of trying to nibble and ending up walking batters.
"We have to adopt an attack mindset, whether it's pitching, fielding or baserunning," the manager said. "We can't avoid getting hit. So we have to take control and attack first."