Hanwha's cruelty to foreign batters, The endless fall of the 'batting last' team

"I don't have a good sense of hitting, but my defense is also poor."

Hanwha Eagles coach Choi Won-ho made the remarks on why he excluded foreign hitter Nick Williams from the starting list ahead of the KBO (Korea Professional Baseball) League home game against Lotte Giants, which was scheduled to be held at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on the 29th. The match was canceled due to rain.

Hanwha lost 2-5 to the KIA Tigers on the 27th, losing six consecutive games. After the sixth inning, he lost helplessly by not hitting a single against KIA bullpen pitchers, but Williams was also unable to bat in this game. Coach Choi explained about Williams, "If I feel a sense of hitting, I will use him as a designated hitter or send him as a pinch hitter when I need a long hit."

Williams, who joined Hanwha as a substitute for Brian O'Gredi, who left with his worst performance (22-game batting average of 0.125), drew expectations as a resource to fill the team's lack of long-hitting power. KBO predicted that he could hit more than 20 home runs in the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2017 and hit double-digit home runs for the second consecutive year.The start was fresh. Williams, who finished adjusting with his first game against KT Wiz on June 27, hit a multi-double the next day and hit a home run against the Samsung Lions on the 30th. However, he later showed weakness in the breaking ball that fell outward, and in July, he was sluggish with a batting average of 0.175 with one home run in 15 games.

In August, he played brilliantly with two home runs and a batting average of .300 in 15 games, but he has been hitless again in 10 at-bats in the last three games. In terms of the season as a whole, he earned only one walk while striking out 37 times with a batting average of 0.222 and an on-base percentage of 0.242. In addition, he was unstable in outfield defense and lost the manager's trust.

Hanwha, which failed to break the brutal death of foreign hitters, is struggling with its water bat attack. From the team batting average (0.239), scores (448), RBIs (422), on-base percentage (0.322), and slugging percentage (0.348) are all at the bottom of the league. His batting average (0.229) and on-base percentage (0.299) in August fell further than his season record. 스포츠토토

In July, the gap, which once narrowed to fifth place and two and a half games, widened to nine and a half games, and was chased by the 10th-ranked Kiwoom Heroes by two and a half games. In response, head coach Choi Won-ho said, "In the past, if the lineup was planned based on offense, we will use players first for the rest of the games."