A 168km hard hit and a mistake?…Kim almost misses his first hit in June

San Diego infielder Ha-Sung Kim almost lost a valuable RBI. A hard hit to the third baseman was initially recorded as an error, costing him a run and a hit, but it was later corrected as a double. His on-base percentage was affected.

Kim Ha-seong started at shortstop, batting eighth, against the Chicago Cubs in the 2023 Major League Baseball game at Petco Park in San Diego, California, USA, on 6 June. He went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and an RBI, and played solid defence to help his team to a 5-0 victory. His RBI came in his first at-bat in the second inning. He hit a double to plate Matt Carpenter.안전놀이터

However, the official scorekeeper originally recorded the hit as an error by the third baseman. Third baseman Patrick Wisdom stuck his glove out and it slipped under him. The scorer thought it was a catchable ball, but it was too fast for a simple error. According to BaseballSabermetrics, Kim’s pitch travelled at 168.1 kilometres per hour (104.5 mph).

It was the third-fastest hit of the game. Fernando Tatis Jr.’s seventh-inning grounder reached 106.2 miles per hour (170.9 km/h) and Matt Carpenter’s eighth-inning fly ball to the walking track reached 105.7 miles per hour (170.1 km/h). Among the hits, Kim’s was the fastest. Given the speed of his bat, it appears that he was reclassified from an error to a hit.

Kim’s last hit came on the 31st of last month against Miami. After going hitless in the next five games, he recorded his 19th RBI with a timely double on the 6th.

If the hit had remained an error, it would have cost him both his batting average and on-base percentage. His batting average would have dropped to 0.246 instead of 0.251 and his on-base percentage to 0.383 instead of 0.394. His OPS would have been 0.726 instead of 0.742.

Meanwhile, on the 6th, American sports publication The Athletic named Kim as the favourite for the National League Gold Glove shortstop award. Kim took the news in stride. “At first, I didn’t think about winning the Gold Glove at all, but as I entered my third year, I knew I might win it,” Kim said.