“I think I’ll save the video and watch it a lot.”
Hanwha Eagles outfielder Lee Jin-young, 26, made an unforgettable play in the eighth game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the Samsung Lions at Daejeon Hwaseong Eagles Park on April 4. It’s no exaggeration to say that this is the most memorable moment of Lee’s baseball career so far.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth inning, Lee pinch-hit for Kim Tae-yeon, who hit a grand slam off Woo Gyu-min, who had come in for Albert Suarez, to send the crowd of 12,000 home happy. After the home run, Lee performed a spectacular bat flip to raise the excitement level.
It was the 1027th home run of his KBO career, the 12th of the season, and his first career grand slam. If we narrow it down to pinch-hit home runs, it is the 56th of his KBO career and the first of the season.
After the game, Hanwha head coach Choi Won-ho said, “Lee Jin-young came in as a pinch-hitter and brought the game back with a grand slam. The moral of the game was Lee Jin-young.”
When asked after the game, Lee said, “The ball came in just as I thought it would, and I was confident. As soon as I hit it, I knew it was a home run.”
Lee’s bat flip was cool, but he didn’t think about it.
“I don’t even remember how I did it because I was in a daze. I didn’t think about it beforehand. I don’t care about the fastball. It just came naturally,” he said.
“When I was younger, I was a fast runner. I have a habit of throwing the bat fast because I need to hit and run fast, so I think it’s a natural thing that comes from that,” he added.
Still, hitting a grand slam as a pinch hitter in front of a packed house is a moment he’ll never forget.
“I think I’ll save the video and watch it a lot,” Lee said. I didn’t even have a triple in my entire school career. “I felt good from the first time I hit it,”메이저사이트 he smiled, “I was about to come home and there were three runners waiting for me, and I thought, ‘This is a real grand slam,'” he said.
He hadn’t been hitting well lately. On the previous day, he had gone 0-for-3 with an unfortunate fielding error.
“I hadn’t been hitting much lately, and I felt like I wasn’t helping the team. The coaches gave me a lot of advice during special training and we talked a lot, and it helped that I tried to have fun while thinking, ‘If I can’t do it, I can go to the second team,'” Lee said.
He thanked coach Choi Won-ho and said, “I think there’s a reason why he chose me at a crucial moment. I will continue to fulfill my role,” he said.
