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▲ Jared Dale’s bat has slumped, and his batting average has dropped sharply. ⓒKIA Tigers
▲ Dale’s hitting slump and defensive lapses led to his removal from the first team. ⓒKIA Tigers
[SPOTV News = Reporter Shin Won-chul] Is KIA’s bold experiment headed for failure? The KIA Tigers have removed Jared Dale — the club’s only Asian-quota position player — from the first-team roster after 37 games. He appeared in only one of the three games immediately before the move and went 0-for-3 in that outing. Struggling at the plate and showing defensive instability, Dale was ultimately dropped from the first team.
On the 11th, the KBO announced that five clubs had optioned a total of seven players off their first-team rosters. The NC Dinos led the way with three removals, while the KT Wiz, LG Twins, Samsung Lions and KIA each removed one player.
While nine other clubs used the Asian-quota rule to reinforce their pitching staffs, Dale — the lone positional player signed under that rule among the 10 teams — was the sole exception and was sent off the first-team roster after KIA’s 37th game.
Dale played in 34 games, hit .256 with a .644 OPS and committed nine errors — seven at shortstop and two at second base. His nine errors account for roughly 41% of KIA’s 22 team errors.
In the three-game series against Lotte from May 8–10, his final series before being removed, he appeared in only one game. After sitting out on the 8th and 9th, he started at second base and batted seventh on the 10th, finishing 0-for-3.
Including the May 10 game, Dale went 0-for-9 over his last three games and hit just .138 over his past 10 games. His average, which climbed as high as .345 during a 15-game hitting streak early in the season, has steadily fallen into the mid-.200s.
▲ KIA’s Jared Dale ⓒKIA Tigers
NC optioned pitchers Son Juhwan and Lee Jun-hyuk, along with infielder Oh Tae-yang, to their futures team. Oh and Son were sent down less than a week after returning to the first team — Oh after three days and Son after four. Lee Jun-hyuk was also removed nine days after being recalled on the 3rd.
LG removed Kim Joo-sung, who had been called up as a pinch-runner to cover for Choi Won-young’s injury, after just three days. Kim was promoted on the 9th when Park Hae-min’s back discomfort left him unable to start. Kim entered as a substitute in the May 10 game against Hanwha, went 0-for-2 and committed an error.
Elsewhere, KT optioned sidearm pitcher Kim Jung-woon to the futures team, and Samsung demoted outfielder Lee Seong-gyu from the first team.
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