At the dead end, I took a breath. This is the story of Nick Williams (30, outfielder), a Hanwha foreign hitter. Williams produced two hits, including a double, in the match against Gocheok Kiwoom on the 25th, and hit a ‘multi-hit’ in 11 games after the match against KT in Daejeon on the 28th of last month.
Wearing a Hanwha uniform as a substitute for Brian O’Grady, who left after a bad performance, Williams was immediately appointed as the team’s fourth hitter, raising great expectations from the club and Hanwha fans. In his debut game in the KBO League, he faced underhanded pitcher KT Young-pyo Ko and was silent with no hits in 3 at-bats, but the next day he hit 2 doubles and energized Hanwha’s batting line with aggressive running base play along with slugging power.
On June 30, against Samsung in Daegu, he started a home run in three games. Even at the time, Williams seemed to cool off the worries of the team, which had been suffering from a thirst for foreign hitters throughout the season.메이저놀이터
However, Williams’ good momentum was short-lived. In July, the ‘strike’, which he was concerned about initially, caught his ankle. He played in 13 games this season and recorded a batting average of 0.196 and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.532, and while striking out 15, he did not pick a single walk. He did hit the sparse hits, but even these were of little nutritional value to him. As the central hitter, the moment he had to play the role of ‘fixer’, his bat was silent every time. Williams’ batting average in scoring position this season is only 0.176.
His batting order also had to be adjusted. Williams, who was deployed as the number 4 hitter, was briefly employed as number 2 and eventually fell to number 7. Even in the lower batting order, which was relatively less burdensome, he could not create an opportunity to rebound, and eventually fell to the eighth batting order.
Williams gained strength in the batting order, where there was nowhere to go down. He started as the 8th hitter and left fielder the previous day, and in the beginning of the 4th inning, behind 1-3, he pulled Kiwoom starter Jang Jae-young’s 151km/h fastball from 2nd 1st and 2nd base and connected it with a right-handed hit. At the end of the 8th inning with a lead of 12-6, he hit a cool, timely double that cut through the left middle after a full count match with Kiwoom Kim Seon-gi at second out and third base. Williams raised the sense of hitting that day with 2 hits, 2 RBIs and 1 run in 5 at-bats.
A situation where Williams needs a rebound in order for Hanhwa to create a driving force to jump into the mid-ranking position. Hanwha coach Choi Won-ho positively evaluated Williams’ batting quality the day before. Coach Choi, who met before the game with Kiwoom on the 26th, said, “The hit to the right in the second at-bat was a good hit with a fast ball. Williams’ (feeling of hitting) was fine,” he said.
