The secret to getting out of the slow starter? The ninth hitter with a batting average of 0.324 is “thanks to the WBC and boldness”
LG Twins Park Hae-min (33) is a typical slow starter in the KBO League. This season, the batting start is starting properly from the beginning of the season.
Park Hae-min started as the 9th hitter and center fielder in the home game against SSG Landers held at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 27th and recorded 3 hits and 2 RBIs in 4 at-bats.
He went out with a right-handed hit in the first at-bat after two outs in the second inning with the score trailing 1-2. At the end of the 4th inning, he pulled a 140.4 km/h four-seam fastball in the middle of the 4th pitch from opponent starter Kim Gwang-hyun and passed it over the right wall. It is a come-from-behind two-run home run with a distance of 118.2m. His third home run of the season, added in two games since the match against SSG on the 25th. In the sixth inning, he hit left-handed.
Looking at the monthly batting average of Park Hae-min, who debuted in the first team in 2014, until last year, April was 0.250 (a total of 0.287), the lowest. Last year, the first season of his transfer to LG, his batting average was only 0.183 in April.
This season is completely different. After the opening, the batting average was only 0.071 (1 hit in 14 at-bats) in 5 games, but the season batting average rose to 0.324 (24 hits in 74 at-bats) amid a streak of hits in the last 9 games.
Park Hae-min is greatly influenced by the World Baseball Classic (WBC). He analyzed, “I did not want to damage the national team, so I prepared earlier than usual for the WBC tournament.” ㅋㅋㅋ벳
I also tried to change my consciousness to escape the most disgusting jinx. He added, “I was sluggish in April, so I changed my mind a bit. I changed my mind to ‘If it’s going to be bad anyway, let’s do my swing boldly’. This is working positively.”
Park Hae-min was more happy than usual as he hit a home run and ran around the bases that day. He laughed, “Isn’t he a good left-handed pitcher who has been on the national team a lot? I don’t remember hitting well once. There are many cases where hits are missed.”
Park Hae-min, a former national team leader, started as the 9th hitter (0.338 batting average) in 21 out of 23 games this year. He laughed, saying, “The batting order doesn’t come back very much. I’m not busy,” and laughed, saying, “After playing about 20 games, it’s not awkward.
Park Hae-min ended the interview with a smile, saying, “If I prepare in this way every season, the difficulties in April will be lessened.”