Mike Tuckman (33), who played for the Hanwha Eagles in the KBO League until last season, has been wielding a hard hit every day since returning to the big leagues. Brian O’Grady (31), who was chosen instead of Tuchman, is suffering from the worst slump, and the Hanwha Eagles cannot help but be upset.
On the 29th (hereinafter Korean time), Tuchman started as the 7th hitter in the center field in the 2023 Major League Cincinnati Reds game held at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and made a big success with 3 hits and 1 point in 4 at bats.
Although the team lost 5-8, Tuchman performed well in the lower batting order.
It has been two years since Tuchman hit three hits in a game in the big leagues on April 29, 2021, against the Colorado Rockies.
Tuckman, who made his big league debut in Colorado in 2017 and played for the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants until 2021, signed a contract with Hanwha in the KBO League last year.
He played in all 144 games and played an active role with a batting average of 0.289, 12 homers, 43 RBIs and 19 stolen bases. He was a bit disappointed with his slugging power and clutch ability, but it was not bad.
However, Tuchman eventually returned to the United States after receiving a notice from Hanwha that he could not renew his contract. Afterwards, he signed a minor league contract with the Cubs and tried again, and after Cody Bellinger was injured, he was called up on the 20th and returned to the big leagues.
Tuckman has been active with 5 walks for .333 in 9 games since his return. He is proving that he is still competitive, starting in 7 of 9 games and picking up a hit in 4 of them.
Hanwha fans watching Tuchman’s performance are heartbroken. It was the intention to recruit a more powerful hitter than Tuchman and expect many home runs, but so far this plan has completely gone awry.
O’Grady, who was recruited in place of Tuchman, had much less career in the big leagues than Tuchman, but was recognized for his long-running ability last year when he hit 15 homers while playing full-time for the Seibu Lions of the Japanese professional baseball league. However, a low batting average of 0.213 and a large number of strikeouts (129 strikeouts in 123 games) were obstacles, but it was hoped that the ability to produce home runs would be enough to offset them.
But when I opened the lid, it was ‘despair’. O’Gredi has had just 8 RBIs with a 0.125 batting average in 22 games so far. He was brought in only for his home run ability, but the number of home runs so far is ‘0’.
O’Grady was canceled on the 23rd of last month and went down to the 2nd Army, but returned on the 11th of this month. Coach Carlos Subero was sacked and he was given a chance under the new manager Choi Won-ho, but he repeated his worst performance of 2 hits and 9 strikeouts in 17 at-bats in 5 games, and was eventually canceled on the 20th.메이저놀이터
At this point, it is difficult to predict when O’Grady will return to the first team.
Hanwha, who had already let foreign pitcher Birch Smith out due to an injury after just one game in the opening game, seems to be growing in pain as O’Grady’s sluggish performance and Tuchman’s performance intersect.