It was a series that reconfirmed the ‘road’ to save the other line for Hanwha in professional baseball. Hanwha ended last week’s three-game series against Doosan in Jamsil with a winning series. What shone more than the solid pitching staff was the long-awaited batting line.
Even last week, Hanwha improved their scoring power with the performance of Chae Eun-seong and Roh Si-hwan, whom they depended heavily on since the opening. However, it wasn’t just the time when they shined brightly with ‘self-luminous’. As the 2nd and 5th batting order, which cover the two batters back and forth, revived, they became more intimidating to the opponent. It was a natural step for the entire batting line to receive strength.
Hanwha has been using Roh Si-hwan and Chae Eun-seong regularly as No. 3 and 4 since Brian O’Grady, the new foreign hitter, fell into slump with a large gap from expectations. However, it was a structure that only these two stood out and had no choice but to receive intensive checks. The same phenomenon was seen when Hanhwa struggled with 6 consecutive losses before succeeding in winning streak last week. In fact, after the 5th hitter was not suitable for the Hanwha lineup, the opponent’s check on the 4th Chae Eun-seong was concentrated. As the number of cases of avoiding matches increased, Chae Eun-seong was also affected by the feeling of hitting.
Hanwha got a hint. Last week, in the game where Doosan was defeated in succession, No. 2 Jeong Eun-won and No. 5 Kim In-hwan were put forward, and No. 2 to 5 rose together, confirming the effect of raising the scoring power.
Jeong Eun-won got 3 hits in 8 at-bats and 1 walk, and Kim In-hwan got 3 hits in 8 at-bats (1 home run) and 2 walks. At this point, Hanwha coach Carlos Subero said, “Our team desperately needed the performance of Kim In-hwan in the current situation when O’Gredi and Kim Tae-yeon were sluggish.”
In fact, Hanwha was very thirsty for the 5th batting order that supports the central batting order. After the opening, the batting average of the 5th batting order was 0.171 and OPS 0.515, a disastrous level. It was ‘overwhelmingly last’ among the 5 batting order indicators in 10 teams. In the second batting order, fatal figures continued with a batting average of 0.191 and an OPS of 0.491, but Kim In-hwan and Jung Eun-won showed potential in their respective positions, giving Hanwha another hope.
Initially, the reason why Hanhwa had hopes to escape from the lower ranks this season was because Chae Eun-seong, who was a free agent, added, Roh Si-hwan’s growth, and Jung Eun-won, Kim In-hwan, and Kim Tae-yeon calculated to leap forward. Foreign hitter O’Grady’s performance at an appropriate level was also premised. As a result, it was expected that the overall batting line would not lag as much as the previous season. The batting order puzzle, which was completely different from the calculation, started to fit one or two even before it was too late.메이저사이트
The key is also next. With Jung Eun-won and Kim In-hwan on track, some more puzzles need to be put together.