SUWON, South Korea, – KT Wiz slugger Kang Baek-ho suffered a season-ending oblique injury during a scrimmage Thursday, a major blow to the club preparing for a South Korean baseball postseason series starting next week.

Kang picked up the injury after taking a swing during the intrasquad game at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, just south of Seoul. The Wiz are getting ready to face the NC Dinos in the best-of-five second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason, with Game 1 scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday in Suwon.

Kang was taken to a nearby hospital for further tests and was diagnosed with an oblique tear on his right side.

“It will be difficult for him to play in the postseason,” Wiz manager Lee Kang-chul told reporters after the scrimmage.

Though Kang has had down years in 2022 and 2023, he is still regarded as an important power bat from the left side for the Wiz. As recently as 2021, Kang set career-highs with a .347 batting average and 102 RBIs.

He was limited to 62 games last year with assorted injuries, and batted .245 with six homers and 29 RBIs — all of them the lowest totals of his career.

This year, dealing with anxiety issues, Kang only played in 71 of the team’s 144 games, batting .265 with eight homers and 39 RBIs.

Source: Yonhap News Agency