Reporter Kim Dong-yoon of Star News | 2023.05.31 06:44
Ha-seong Kim (28, San Diego Padres) is doing what he used to do, but he’s being praised. Because of his teammates who are below expectations to the extent that only Kim Ha-seong is okay. The San Diego Union-Tribune, an American media outlet, said on the 31st (Korea time), “After a third of the season, it’s clear where San Diego needs to improve to move from a disappointing team to a postseason contender.”
As of the game on the 30th, San Diego is 4th in the National League West with 24 wins and 29 losses. Considering the team’s total annual salary is 246 million dollars (about 320 billion won), this is a disappointing result. At the same time as San Diego in 2018 with an annual salary of 120 million dollars (about 158.7 billion won), a team focused on Will Myers and Eric Hosmer, there are only two games to come. The San Diego-Tribune Union, which reported on this, highlighted the problem, saying, “It’s foolish to think San Diego can make it to the postseason at this point.”
San Diego this year, analyzed by the media, was an inconsistent team. I only had 3 or more wins in a row. The main criticism centered on the batting line-up. Major league teams are averaging eight hits this season, and San Diego has only once had seven or more hits in three consecutive games. In the scoring zone, the batting line could not be connected like water. Currently, San Diego’s on-base percentage is 0.324, 6th highest in the major leagues, but when there are runners, the on-base percentage is 0.303, which is 29th in the major leagues, and in scoring range, the average batting average is 0.205, the lowest among the 30 major league teams.
The San Diego Union-Tribune called the San Diego lineup a “black hole” and criticized “Most of the blame is on Manny Machado and Xander Bogarts. When one person gets a ridiculous amount of money, you expect for that person to do the same.” . Before this season, he signed an 11-year, $280 million (approx. 371.8 billion earned) free agent contract with Xander Bogatz and an 11-year, $350 million (approx. 464.8 billion earned) contract extension with Manny Machado.
But other hitters could not escape criticism either. The San Diego Union-Tribune said, “The winning team should do well throughout the lineup. It should do much better than Trent Grisham with a 0.188 batting average, 0.667 OPS, and two catchers with a 0.144 batting average and 0.451 OPS .”Bringing in .679 catcher Gary Sanchez is one of several strategies San Diego general manager AJ Preeller will be showing off in the coming weeks.”
The only one who avoided criticism was Kim Ha-seong. Ha-seong Kim is one of six San Diego hitters who have filled the required at-bats this season, with a .242 batting average, 5 homers, 17 RBIs, 7 stolen bases, an on-base percentage of 0.330, slugging percentage of 0.382, and OPS of 0.712. Although it was a league average batting performance, the media said, “Of the five lowest hitting players in San Diego, only Kim Ha-seong with a batting average of 0.242 is the only hitter with a batting average of 0.215 or higher. .”
At the point where the 2023 season has passed two months, the harsh criticism of San Diego continues. Among the teams ranked third in overall team salary in the Major League (ML), the highest bWAR (win contribution over rookies based on baseball direction) is Kim Ha-seong, who accumulated most of the WAR with protection, with 2.2 .
On the 29th, ESPN also criticized, “The 2011 Boston Red Sox came to mind, who looked like a monster team on paper, but ended up not making the postseason. Even though they were a team with a lot of players great , they are too inconsistent,” criticized Ha-seong Kim. I would praise him greatly, but the fact that he is in first place on the San Diego team in terms of contributions at the moment shows how little the rest of the hitters have failed. .”
[저작권자 @머니투데이, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
