“I was afraid of striking out.”
Roh Si-hwan (23),메이저사이트 a promising player from Hanwha Giants, made a splash with 30 hits in 95 at-bats, a batting average of 0.316, 2 homers, 10 RBIs and 14 runs in 24 games for the month of April. In the opening game against Kiwoom on April 1st, he maintained an upward trend throughout the month, scoring two hits against KBO League best pitcher An Woo-jin.
It may be natural to take a breath in May. 65 at-bats, 17 hits, batting average of 0.262, 6 home runs, 11 RBIs, 11 runs scored, 2 stolen bases. In fact, except for the average, the home run, RBI, and scoring pace is rather steeper than in April. However, he failed to score a hit in 35 consecutive at-bats from Incheon SSG on the 14th to the last at-bat against Jamsil LG on the 21st.
On the 13th, Roh Si-hwan raised his batting average to 0.359 with two hits against SSG Incheon. However, his 30% collapsed as he failed to earn his hits for the entire week afterward. Season batting average 0.294, 8 homers, 21 RBIs, 25 runs, OPS 0.885. It is still a great performance, but it is regrettable that he lost a batting average of 6.5 leagues with no hits for a week. During the period without hits, he struck out eight times.
Noh Si-hwan looked back on the 2022 season at Mesa Spring Camp in Arizona, USA in February and said, “I was afraid of striking out.” He analyzed that a passive hit and a smaller swing without knowing it led to the worst result of losing even the advantage. This season, he planned to move his hitting point forward to focus on his long hit production and average.
In April, it was a success. This is because his high batting average in the 3.5 penny range and his slugging percentage have risen dramatically. Averages and long hits are not completely opposite areas. Only by bringing the hitting point forward can you produce a good hit ball before the breaking ball breaks, increase the average and even increase your long hitting power. It is a subtle change that cannot be confirmed with the naked eye, but Roh Si-hwan is in danger of losing his efforts last winter due to his recent sluggishness.
On the 21st, at Jamsil LG Games, bad luck continued, such as a well-hit ball hitting a double hit and a slightly delayed swing becoming a hit ball that worked and became a criminal hit. MBC Sports Plus commentator Jeong Min-cheol, who relayed the match, diagnosed that there was no problem with the mechanics and that the problem was that the results were not coming out.
Commentator Jeong Min-cheol said, “It’s not a bad thing, but it’s strangely caught. He will bite his tail and step into the plate. I will work with the thought of ‘why not’. If it fits well and is good, you have time to prepare for the next ball, but if you look at ‘why it doesn’t fit’, you can strike out while standing.”
“There will be a lot of stress. It’s not painful anywhere. Only the number drops from 3 to 2 (meaning that the batting average has collapsed in the 30% range). You will be under a lot of stress in the car going back to Daejeon.” It is a diagnosis that mental management will not be possible because the number is caught on the electronic signboard and there is no choice but to see it.
In the end, there is no other way than to overcome it yourself. However, it is difficult to imagine that there is no Noh Si-hwan in the central batting line and hot corner of Hanwha. As foreign hitter Brian O’Grady turned out to be a failure, Noh Si-hwan’s performance is very important to Hanwha right away.