After hitting just 2-for-4 with 23 home runs in the first year of his four-year, 11.5 billion won mega-free agent contract, he’s on pace for an even worse career-low season in his second year. When will Doosan’s No. 4 hitter Kim Jae-hwan (35) wake up?
Kim Jae-hwan’s performance against KT in Jamsil on June 6 was a major disappointment for Doosan fans who braved the heat to attend the game. After being left out of the starting lineup for four or five days to recuperate under manager Lee Seung-yeop’s care, Kim made his first start in three games, but was silent with four hits and one strikeout. With their No. 4 hitter ineffective, Doosan dropped a 1-3 decision to end the three-game series with KT in a tie for third place.
They struggled against KT ace Ko Young-pyo. Other Doosan batters also struggled against Ko, but Kim Jae-hwan’s struggles were particularly pronounced. There are high expectations for the No. 4 hitter, and disappointment when he struggles. There were several swings that didn’t live up to the name Kim Jae-hwan.
He started the game with a strikeout. In the first inning, with two on and one out, he struck out on a three-pitch changeup from Ko Young-pyo. In the fourth inning, he led off with a single and fouled off the third baseman, and in the sixth inning, he had runners on first and second with nobody out, but a grounder to the first baseman sent Jose Rojas to third. With the bases loaded in the eighth, he hit a foul fly to right field off Park Young-hyun to end the game. Kim’s batting average dropped from 2-for-3 to 2-for-7 on the season. He has gone hitless in his last five games.
Where did it all go wrong for the slugger who hit 44 home runs in 2018 and won the regular season MVP?
Kim Jae-hwan, the No. 4 hitter of the Doosan dynasty, signed a four-year, 11.5 billion won ($11.5 million) free agent contract with his original team, Doosan, after the 2021 season. Since breaking out as Doosan’s No. 4 hitter in 2016, Kim has hit 188 home runs in six seasons at the pitcher-friendly Jamsil Stadium. However, in his first year with the club, Kim struggled in 128 games, batting just 2-for-48 with 23 home runs, 72 RBIs, and an .800 OPS. The lack of a consistent No. 4 hitter led to Doosan’s first-ever ninth-place finish.
In October of last year, manager Lee Seung-yeop took over the reins and embarked on a project to revive Kim Jae-hwan. He analyzed the factors behind the slump through interviews with the player, and continued to express his trust in Jae-hwan to the media and the team to revive the player’s spirit. Hitting coach Koji Goto, who helped him win the 2018 MVP award, also returned and worked with Kim at the Australian spring training camp. Kim Jae-hwan also traveled to Sydney ahead of the main team and put in a tremendous amount of training.
As expected, Kim’s first half was another disappointment. In 76 games, he batted just 2-for-44 with seven home runs, 29 RBIs, and a .737 OPS, failing to hit in the No. 4 spot again. He showed signs of life when he hit a home run in the opener, but his monthly averages continued to fall, with a 2-for-7 April, a 2-for-9 May, a 2-for-5 June, and a 1-for-7 July. In mid-June, he was dropped from the top of the order altogether, batting second, third, and fifth.
In the second half of the season, however, the Doosan offense doesn’t seem to care much about Kim’s presence. His batting average has dropped even further, with just 1-for-39 with one home run and four RBIs in 11 games. If you limit the time frame to August, he’s batting just 5-for-6. In 19 at-bats, he had just one hit.
His batting average has already dropped to 2.227 for the season. At this rate, 2023 could be the lowest season of his career. Since making the jump to the big leagues, Kim’s lowest single-season average was 2.248 last year and his lowest home run total was 15 in 2019. Back then, he would have been evaluated on his previous season with a yearly contract, but now he has a guaranteed four-year deal worth 11.5 billion won.
Nevertheless, the manager’s trust remains strong. Kim Jae-hwan is still a key player in Lee’s plan, and he’s been given a huge task in the second half. In the first half, there was another fixer in Yang Ji, but Yang Ji was found to have an abnormality in his side during a hospital checkup on July 7. If Kim Jae-hwan continues to be as silent as he was in the first half, the center field will be weakened.스포츠토토
Lee said, “Every professional baseball player knows how hard Kim Jae-hwan works. He’s probably the most frustrated because he’s not performing as well as he wants to. We should help him as much as we can, but I don’t know if it’s going to get better if we pat him on the back. It’s better to just sit back and watch from the sidelines,” he said, adding, “(Yang’s) will is missing. Now it’s time for Kim Jae-hwan to do it, and he’ll do it well,” and urged the Jamsil Geopo to work hard.