Choi Ji-man (32, Pittsburgh) fired a cannon again.
On the 27th (Korean time), Choi Ji-man, who started as the 4th batter and first baseman in an away game against San Diego at Petco Park in San Diego, California, USA, hit a home run in the first at-bat in the top of the second inning when the match was 0-0.온라인바카라
Choi Ji-man, who started as the lead batter, hit opponent starter Seth Lugo (34)’s 92.3 mile (about 149 km) sinker on a ball count of 3-1 and connected it with a preemptive solo home run that went over the right fence. According to the Major League homepage (MLB.com), his exit velocity was 101.7 miles (about 164 km), the launch angle was 26 degrees, and the distance was 384 feet (about 117 m).
It was Choi Ji-man’s 6th home run this season. On the 22nd, he started in an away game against the Los Angeles Angels and hit a home run against Japanese hitter and pitcher Shohei Ohtani (29). And after missing 3 games, he made only one at-bat (strikeout) as a pinch hitter on the 26th, and returned to the starter on the 5th day on this day and drew an arch again.
Choi Ji-man hits a home run in the second inning against San Diego on the 27th (Korean time). /AFPBBNews=News1
What is regrettable is that Choi Ji-man, after returning from an injury on the 8th, has shown slugging power enough to shoot 4 home runs in 11 games, but he is not able to play every day. This is because Pittsburgh has veteran first baseman Carlos Santana (37) and designated hitter Andrew McCutchen (37), whose position exactly overlaps with Choi Ji-man.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently reported, “The club is managing playing time to prevent the recurrence of Choi Ji-man’s Achilles injury.” However, it is not so good news for the player who has good hitting feeling. This is especially true when looking at the number of home runs per at-bat for Choi Ji-man this season.
According to the American online media ‘Baseball Reference’, Ohtani occupies the first place in the number of home runs per plate appearance in the major leagues this season. As of the 27th, he has hit an average of one home run in every 12.4 at-bats (36 homers in 445 at-bats). 1st place in the National League is Matt Olson (29, Atlanta), who is hitting home runs per 14.0 at-bats (32 homers in 447 at-bats).
Choi Ji-man’s record is not lost at all to them.
Choi Ji-man played in 20 games this season and hit 6 home runs in 67 at bats. In other words, he is showing off his one-hit slugging power of 1 home run per 11.2 at-bats. Although the number of home runs is low and the number of home runs is low, Choi Ji-man’s home run rate per at-bat is 0.90, which is higher than Ohtani (0.81) and Olsen (0.72).
US local media, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, predicted that “one of the three Pittsburgh veterans (Choi Ji-man, Santana, McCutchen) will be traded by the major league trade deadline, the 1st of next month (local time).”
Pittsburgh is at the bottom of the Central Division in the National League with a 45-57 win rate of 0.441 this season. In fact, since advancing to the postseason has gone through the water, there is a possibility of choosing a strategy to strengthen the rebuilding by securing young prospects in return while organizing veteran players with high salaries.
Whether Choi will remain or leave will not be known until the trade deadline, but at the current pace, it seems possible to achieve double-digit home runs this year as well. After making his major league debut in 2016, he hit more than 10 home runs in every season from 2018 to last year, except for 2020 (3 home runs), which was shortened due to Corona 19.