Hanwha Eagles center fielder Roh Si-hwan (23) went hitless in four at-bats against the Gwangju KIA Tigers on Sunday. He flied out to center field in his first at-bat in the first inning and fouled out to first base in his second at-bat in the third. His other two at-bats in the fifth and eighth innings ended in strikeouts.
No. 4 Chae Eun-sung, who leads the offense as a “duo” with Noh Si-hwan, also went 0-for-4. The cleanup trio of No. 3 through No. 5, Lee Jin-young, finished the game with 10 hitless at-bats. With the 2-5 loss, Hanwha dropped all three games of the weekend series and fell to a six-game losing streak.
Prior to the game, manager Choi Won-ho cited the inexperience of his players as a reason for the recent batting slump. He explained that their batting cycles go up and down throughout the season, and when they fall off, they are slow to recover. Lack of slump management skills
“We have only one hitter, Chae Eun-sung, who has been able to maintain her edge. We rely heavily on Chae Eun-sung and Noh Si-hwan, so if they don’t match up, it’s a tough game.”
The batting slump intensified in the second half. In 29 games since the All-Star break, the team is 2-for-33. In 21 games in August, they’re 2-for-22. That’s a staggering team batting average.
The team relies heavily on Noh and Chae, and if the entire lineup goes into a slump, the two key hitters will be isolated.
are likely to be isolated. They will be targeted by opposing pitchers.
The top 1-2 of the batting order, the foreign batters, will have to carry the offense. Nick Williams, who has been struggling in the offense lately, was benched on the 27th.
Even Noh Si-hwan has been slumping lately. He went just 2-for-11 in a three-game series against KIA last weekend. He had one walk and five strikeouts in 12 at-bats.
In his last five games, he is 1-for-5 with one RBI. He hasn’t hit a home run in five games since hitting his 29th three-run homer of the season on Aug. 19 against the KT Wiz’s Jeobusung Lee.토토사이트
While Noh has been in a slump, Choi Jung (SSG Landers) has followed suit. He hit No. 22 against the NC Dinos on Aug. 24 and No. 23 against the Doosan Bears on Aug. 27. The gap, which was once eight points, narrowed to six. Noh still has a huge lead, but it’s a batting pace you can’t help but notice.
Noh is on pace to lead the league in home runs and RBIs, as well as win the Golden Glove for third base and the regular season MVP award. At this point
is well deserved. Almost every hitting metric says, “Noh is the best hitter in the KBO this year.”
However, there is a variable: his participation in the Hangzhou Asian Games. He’ll be gone from late September to early October. If the team’s batting slump continues, his home run and RBI production is bound to drop. Struggling can only take you so far.
While he lacks the explosiveness of Noh, Choi is a 13-year veteran who has won the home run title three times.
He still has 37 games left.