“I don’t want to do it again like last year.”
Kim Seok-hwan (24), a KIA Tigers big shot prospect, has only one thing in mind ahead of the 2023 season. He’s never going to do anything like the 2022 season. The 2022 season that I looked back at that much was the worst.스포츠토토
The reason was that he did not play his own baseball in the impatience of having to produce results. Kim Seok-hwan said at the KIA spring camp recently held at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona, “I haven’t added any training programs this year. My goal this year is to play my own baseball, so I made up my mind not to repeat last year’s mistakes.”
Last year, Kim Seok-hwan was one of the key players selected by KIA coach Kim Jong-guk. He entered the 2017 Rookie Draft with the 24th pick in the 2nd 3rd round and was recognized as a giant hit in the 2018 Futures League by hitting 15 homers in 81 games. Hitting coach Park Heung-sik at the time even called him the second Lee Seung-yeop.
Expectations for Kim Seok-hwan were high even in the 2022 demonstration game ahead of his first full-time season after completing military service in 2021. He had a high batting average of 0.310 in 13 games, but the big thing was that he showed his qualities as a giant gun by recording a slugging average of 0.548 against first-team players. But that hope soon faded. He received many opportunities in April, but he seldom hit with a batting average of 0.173 (9 hits in 52 at-bats) in 19 games, and ended up with a batting average of 0.149, 3 home runs, 7 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.518 in 51 regular season games.
Kim Seok-hwan said, “I lost my confidence because I didn’t get results.” It felt like I was running in place for a season,” he said.
The problem was not technical things such as batting form, but heart. The fact that batting form is not a problem was proved by bombing the Australian Baseball League (ABL) short and thick with a batting average of 0.294, 4 homers, 10 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.105 in Geelong Korea this winter. KIA coaches were also no touch in terms of Kim Seok-hwan’s technical side.
Kim Seok-hwan said, “After last season, before the finish camp, I consulted with the coaches to establish a batting form. Based on that batting form, I went to Australia and there were results. So the coaches told me, ‘There is no need to fix the batting form anymore. Just pay attention,” he explained.
The command tower also highly evaluated Kim Seok-hwan’s changed mindset and attitude. Director Kim Jong-guk said, “I hope there will be one or two more players besides the obvious starting lineup because we have to think about what’s next for Hyung-woo Choi.” I want to see it,” he praised.
First baseman Byun Woo-hyeok was recruited this winter, and outfielder Choi Won-joon is scheduled to return from the Armed Forces Athletic Corps (Sangmu) in June. In response, Kim Seok-hwan laughed, “Anyway, my strength is long hits. Of course, to hit a lot of long hits, I need precise hits.” I think I’m not on the bad side, so I have a desire to increase both my batting average and OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage).”