Will the professional baseball LG Twins be able to break the stereotype that they are "weak against left-handed pitchers" from the opening game?

Most of LG's starting hitters are left-handed. There are 7 left-handed batters in the starting lineup. Except for the catcher and first baseman, all are left-handed. It is true that LG has struggled against certain left-handed pitchers. Last year, foreign pitchers Heisus and Benjamin were representative examples. However, their overall performance against left-handed pitchers is among the best in the league.

On the 22nd, LG will play the 2025 KBO League opening game against the Lotte Giants at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. LG will announce foreign pitcher Yoni Chirinos as the starting pitcher, while Lotte will have left-handed pitcher Charlie Barnes as their starter.

LG will face a left-handed starter from the opening game. This marks four consecutive years that they will open against a left-handed starter. They faced KIA's Yang Hyun-jong in 2022, KT's Benjamin in 2023, and Hanwha's Ryu Hyun-jin in 2024 in their opening games.

LG's lineup had a team batting average of .280 against left-handed pitchers last year, which was not bad. They ranked third in the league, following KIA (.292) and KT (.290). Their team on-base percentage was .372, ranking first, while their slugging percentage was .400, which placed them eighth. In 2023, their batting average against left-handed pitchers was .277, with a slugging percentage of .395 and an on-base percentage of .360, all ranking third in the league.

LG has decent performance against Barnes. Barnes has a career record against LG of 9 games with 2 wins and 5 losses and an earned run average of 4.94, which is not good. Since joining Lotte in 2022, Barnes has maintained a yearly ERA in the 3s, with a career ERA of 3.42, which is 1.52 higher than his career average.

In his first year in the KBO League in 2022, Barnes performed well against LG, with a record of 2 wins and 2 losses in 4 games and an ERA of 3.09. He recorded 3 quality starts. However, in 2023, he had no wins in 4 games against LG, suffering 3 losses with an ERA of 7.64. In those 3 games, he allowed 4 or more runs, and he only had 1 quality start. In one game last year against LG, he started and pitched 6⅓ innings, allowing 6 hits, 2 home runs, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts while allowing 3 runs, recording a quality start without a win or loss. From 2023, he has not won against LG in 2 years, with a record of 3 losses and an ERA of 6.75.

LG plans to field a starting lineup with 4 right-handed batters against Barnes. Manager Yeom Kyung-yup noted, "We will have right-handed batters at second base and left field." First baseman Austin and catcher Park Dong-won are also right-handed batters. Hong Chang-ki, Park Hae-min, Kim Hyun-soo, Oh Ji-hwan, and Moon Bo-kyung are 5 left-handed batters.

Manager Yeom informed right-handed batter Song Chan-eui about his starting role for the opening game early on. He will be in left field. Plan to include right-handed batter Koo Bon-hyuk at second base, replacing the starting player Shin Min-jae, who has not shown good hitting form in the exhibition games. Koo Bon-hyuk recorded a batting average of .368 (7 hits in 19 at-bats), with 8 walks and an on-base percentage of .571 in 9 exhibition games, leading in on-base percentage.

Looking at the performance of LG batters against Barnes over the past two years: Hong Chang-ki 5 hits in 9 at-bats (.556), Park Dong-won 4 hits in 8 at-bats, 1 home run (.500), Moon Seong-joo 4 hits in 9 at-bats (.444), Kim Hyun-soo 5 hits in 14 at-bats (.357), Moon Bo-kyung 2 hits in 8 at-bats, 1 home run (.250), Austin 3 hits in 12 at-bats (.250), Park Hae-min 2 hits in 9 at-bats (.222), Oh Ji-hwan no hits in 8 at-bats (.000), Shin Min-jae no hits in 6 at-bats (.000), Koo Bon-hyuk no hits in 3 at-bats (.000). Song Chan-eui had no face-offs.

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