“It’s not good, but how long do I have to put it in as a starter…”
Hanwha Eagles coach Choi Won-ho is suffering from the endless sluggishness of foreign hitter Nick Williams (30). Hanwha spent 1.35 million dollars (about 1.7 billion won) on foreign hitters this year. At first, Brian O’Grady (31) was given a contract worth 900,000 dollars (about 1.1 billion won), and after O’Grady was released, he invested 450,000 dollars (about 500 million won) in Williams. He showed a strong will to challenge for the top 5 this season while spending a lot of money even though he was a substitute foreign hitter.
But again, it’s a hitter. Williams had a batting average of 0.182 (14 hits in 77 at-bats), an OPS of 0.515, two home runs and eight RBIs in 19 games. The released O’Grady recorded a batting average of 0.125 (10 hits in 80 at-bats), an OPS of 0.337, no home runs, and 8 RBIs in 22 games. In a similar opportunity, he performed better than O’Grady, but it is unlikely that the club made the decision to spend 500 million won more expecting a slightly better hit than O’Grady.
Compared to his strikeouts, his walks are far too low compared to O’Grady’s. O’Grady walked only five while striking out 40 times, while Williams got one walk while striking out 28.
Director Choi, a former pitcher, was frustrated after watching Williams and sought advice from field coaches. It was because I had no idea how much time Williams had to give him to adjust.
Coach Choi said, “I asked coaches and players from the field. I asked how long we should watch foreign hitters, but opinions were divided. Isn’t there a case like Cliff Brumba or Tyrone Woods in the past? I couldn’t hit for more than two months. There are some cases where it is valuable, so some people should look at it long term, others who come in the middle should look at it shorter than that, and there are also opinions that even players who came in the middle should take a long look at it considering the environment, strike zone, and unfamiliarity of the pitchers. Even if I try to set a certain standard, it seems difficult because the opinions of the beasts are different.”
For now, he’s giving Williams a chance to get to the plate consistently. This is because the adaptation process is meaningful only when there is an opportunity to continue to stand at bat. O’Gredi was with us from the start, so we had time to adjust in the second team, and if O’Gredi didn’t work out, we could think of another player. But Williams can’t be replaced just because he can’t hit. Hanwha has already used up all 2 foreign player replacement cards. Since Williams has to carry on no matter how badly he does, it is bound to be even more difficult for Choi to set standards.메이저놀이터
However, you cannot simply force a bad player into the plate. Coach Choi said, “I discussed with the batting part, and after looking at the condition, I said that if it is bad, I should start selectively. “I think we should make a decision based on the opinions of the batting part, such as subtracting it for an underhand pitcher because there are a lot of miss swings in the underhand type.”
Williams started as the 8th hitter and left fielder against the Doosan Bears in Daejeon on the 1st. I expected a rebound by attacking Doosan right-hander starter Gwak Bin, but Williams bowed his head in silence with a 3-for-3 picture that day. All three strikeouts were by Kwak Bin. The most painful thing was to strike out on a swing in the bottom of the second inning when the score was 1-2.
