Bae Ji-hwan being interviewed before leaving the country
Pittsburgh Pirates Korean batter Bae Ji-hwan (24) is being interviewed by reporters at Incheon International Airport before leaving for the United States on the 10th.
Bae Ji-hwan (24) aims to become the starting second baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates of the Major League Baseball, using his quick feet as a weapon.
MLB.com highlighted the Pittsburgh second baseman competition on the 1st (Korean time) and mentioned Bae Ji-hwan as one of the five candidates for the starting second baseman position.
MLB.com said, “Ji-hwan Bae is currently the fastest player in Pittsburgh. He is the best in the entire major league. He reached 4.05 seconds from home to first base last year, ranking second in this category, and his sprint speed measured by Statcast. was tied for 16th place with a speed of 29.7 feet (about 9 m) per second,” he said, citing Bae Ji-hwan’s ‘focus’ as his strength.
However, “Bae Ji-hwan did not fully demonstrate his strengths as his on-base percentage was only 0.296 last year,” he said. “Although he turned a single into a double, he only hit two home runs due to his low power, and his barrel batted ball production rate, which has a high probability of hitting, is lower than the major league’s.” “It was the 6th lowest out of 258 hitters,” he said, pointing out his hitting ability as a weakness.
MLB.com looked at Bae Ji-hwan’s skills and the composition of the Pittsburgh team and predicted that Bae Ji-hwan will play between second base and center field this season.
Bae Ji-hwan played in 111 big league games last year and posted a batting average of 0.231 (77 hits in 334 at-bats), 2 home runs, 32 RBI, 54 runs, 23 stolen bases, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.608.
Bae Ji-hwan himself knows that he must improve his hitting ability to become a starting player.
As he left the country on the 11th of last month, he said, “The reason I received a lot of opportunities last year was because I was a rookie.” This year, “I have to show improvement in offense, defense, and base running to be able to play often in games.”
MLB.com named Nick Gonzalez, Leover Peguero, Jared Triolo, and Alika Williams as second baseman candidates to compete with Bae Ji-hwan.
Among them, Peguero was selected as ‘the player most likely to play as the starting second baseman.’ 섯다