‘One game, four strikeouts’ 11 years after debut…what’s going on with shift-hitter Park Min-woo?
NC’s Min-woo Park is one of the league’s leading switch-hitters. He has a career batting average of .320. In 11 years, he has only struck out 100 times in a season (108 in 2015).
On April 28, Park struck out four times in Game 1 against the Jamsil Doosan. He struck out Jang Won-jun in the first, third, and fourth innings, and in the seventh inning, he struck out left-hander Choi Seung-yong, Doosan’s third pitcher, in an 11-pitch battle. Park was replaced by Kim Han-byul on defense in the bottom of the seventh.
Min-woo Park’s four strikeouts in one game were his first in his professional debut. Three strikeouts are also rare. Before this game, Park had two two-strikeout games and no three-strikeout games this season. Last year, he struck out three in a game only twice.
Shoulder issues. Park Min-woo suffered a right shoulder sprain earlier this month that kept him out of the first team. Even after his return, the shoulder is still not in good shape.
“I went to the hospital for a while, but when my shoulder is fine, it’s fine, but when I’m hitting, it’s uncomfortable,” NC coach Kang Myung-hyun told reporters on the 29th, after the Doosan game was canceled due to rain. Even if the game had not been canceled, Park Min-woo would have been removed from the starting lineup due to shoulder pain.
In addition to the shoulder, Kang said that Park seemed to have reacted to the umpire’s call on the first pitch of his first at-bat. In his first at-bat, Park Min-woo, who had started the previous day as the No. 2 hitter, showed a confused expression as he was called for strikes on back-to-back 2-3 outside fastballs from Doosan starter Jang Won-jun. Facing a one-pitch, two-strike count, Park struck out swinging on a four-pitch slider that was low and away.바카라사이트
“I think there are many players who are haunted by their first at-bat,” Kang said, “and the better baseball players seem to be more sensitive to missed at-bats.”
Despite the shoulder pain, Park’s recent hitting hasn’t been bad. In the month of June, he is batting .354 with 17 hits in 48 at-bats and an OPS of .824. His season batting average is .316, which ranks 10th overall.