"Kim Hye-sung's departure → 2 foreign hitters super strong", Puig-Cardines Good start, and Kiwoom, who is 'last in home runs', will also become a cannon corps
"Kim Hye-sung's departure → 2 foreign hitters super strong", Puig-Cardines Good start, and Kiwoom, who is 'last in home runs', will also become a cannon corps
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Kim Hye-sung (26, Los Angeles Dodgers) left the club and couldn't just congratulate him. There was no reinforcement. As a result, the Kiwoom Heroes made a strong move to bring in two foreign hitters.
Kiwoom, which fell to the bottom with the injury of Lee Jung-hoo (27) of the San Francisco Giants, suffered humiliating loss of last place for two consecutive years. The bigger concern is that Kim Hye-sung escaped this year.
Concerns are growing over possible hitters. Kim Hye-sung, who has become the Golden Glove star for the fourth consecutive year, has also left Kiwoom, which had the lowest batting average (0.264), homers (104), runs (672), and OPS (0.717).
Expectations are high on two foreign batters. Under the foreign player rule, which allows three pitchers, a vast majority of teams have two pitchers and one batter. Just like the words "pitcher play" in baseball and "starter fight" in baseball, it proves that starting pitchers have absolute influence.
Nevertheless, the fact that the team consists of two batters shows Kiwoom's concern about its batters. The main characters are Yasiel Puig (35), who made his debut with the Dodgers and played for Kiwoom in 2022, and Ruben Cardinez (28), who made a short but heavy impact with the Samsung Lions last year.
Puig had a batting average of 0.277, 21 homers, 73 RBIs and 65 runs scored, on-base percentage of 0.367, on-base plus slugging percentage of 0.474, and OPS of 0.841 in 126 games three years ago. Despite playing in just seven games due to injury last year, he had a batting average of 0.333 (eight hits in 24 at-bats) with two homers and five RBIs, on-base percentage of 0.360, slugging percentage of 0.667, and OPS of 1.027. He was also strong in scoring position with 0.429.
The most anticipated part is the weight of the team's batters. Last year's ace pitcher was Song Seong-moon (29). He had a career-high season with a batting average of 0.340 with 19 home runs and 104 RBIs and an OPS of 0.927. He also had the most home runs in his team.
Lee Ju-hyung's growth, Choi Joo-hwan (13 homers) and Kim Hye-sung (11 homers) all hit the most home runs since his debut, but foreign hitters' performance was disappointing. Ronnie Dawson (11 homers in 95 games) was left due to injury during the season, which caused a huge aftermath.
The power of the batters is expected to increase for sure this season. Puig has been a player with strong batting power since his days in the Major League, and given that he already experienced the KBO League, his performance is expected to be even better than three years ago. Cardinez also made a strong impression last year and completely shook off the pain in his side, which raised concerns.
He performed his first live batting training for the spring camp at the Arizona Athletic Ground on the 7th, and it feels good.
Puig said, "It was my first live batting, so I watched the ball a lot and tried to get used to it. There were foul balls, but overall timing was not bad. I am having fun training with my teammates I haven't seen in a while. I will prepare well for the practice game scheduled for the second camp in Taiwan."
"It was great to see pitchers' balls for the first time in a long time. It was my first live batting performance since recovering from injury, so I focused on hitting the ball accurately," Cardinez said. "Currently, my physical condition is perfect. I will prepare well for the season while maintaining a healthy body."
"Both Puig and Cardinez showed good performance in live batting training," said Oh Yoon, the batting coach who watched the training. "Each player is improving his condition well at his pace," adding, "They are good at hitting, so if they prepare well during the camp period, I expect them to show good performance this season." 토토사이트
It is no exaggeration to say that Kiwoom's future this season depends on the performance of Song Sung-moon and the three central hitters. How often their cannon bursts is expected to be the biggest variable that will determine whether Kiwoom is in last place for three consecutive years.