Shall I go crazy?”
SSG Landers will play the first game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League postseason semi-playoff against NC Dinos at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 22nd. This is the ‘defending champion’s’ first fall baseball game of the season.
This season, both teams had a fierce battle. The opponent’s record is tight with 8 wins and 8 losses.
SSG selected Roenis Elias as the starter for the first game. Elias, who joined the team as a replacement foreign pitcher for Eni Romero, recorded 7 wins, 6 losses, 131⅓ innings, 58 runs (55 earned), 93 strikeouts, and an average ERA of 3.77 WHIP (on-base percentage per inning) of 1.32 in 22 games (21 starts). Against NC, he appeared in 3 games and recorded 1 win, 14 ⅓ innings, 13 runs (12 earned), 5 strikeouts, and an ERA of 7.53 and WHIP of 1.47.
The NC selection is Shin Min-hyuk. Shin Min-hyuk finished the regular season this season with 29 games (24 starts), 5 wins, 5 losses, 122 innings, 63 runs (54 earned), 97 strikeouts, and an ERA of 3.98 and WHIP of 1.21. Appeared in 4 games against SSG. He started in three of those games. He has allowed 9 runs (9 earned) in 12⅓ innings, struck out 8, and has an ERA of 6.57 and a WHIP of 1.22.
There is a saying that in the postseason, you need a ‘crazy player’ to win. In the first game of the wild card match between NC and Doosan Bears held on the 19th, Seo Ho-cheol went crazy. Seo Ho-cheol recorded 3 hits (1 home run) in 4 at-bats, 1 walk, 6 RBI, and 2 runs. In particular, he succeeded in bringing the mood to NC’s side by hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the 4th inning when the team was behind 0-3. Doosan immediately tied the score, but NC took the lead again, and with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th inning, ahead 6-5, they hit a timely double with 2 RBIs to drive the wedge.
Seo Ho-cheol became the first player to hit a grand slam in a wild card game and became the player with the most RBIs in a single wild card game.
There was also a player in SSG who called himself a ‘crazy player’. The main character is Ha Jae-hoon, who debuted in the KBO League in the 2019 season and immediately won the relief title. He switched to being a hitter last season and has been active.
Ha Jae-hoon chose to join Geelong Korea rather than take a break after winning the Korean Series last season. He showed a good performance on the Australian stage. However, he suffered a shoulder injury at the second spring camp in Okinawa, Japan ahead of the season. He was able to return to action in late May. However, in mid-June he suffered a finger injury and was sidelined for another month.안전놀이터
However, Ha Jae-hoon, who returned, showed good performance in July (batting average 0.308) and October (batting average 0.432) and finished the season with a batting average of 0.303. Although he did not meet the required number of at-bats, it is noteworthy that a player who had a batting average of .200 in his first season as a batsman achieved a batting average of .300 in one season.
Ha Jae-hoon was able to raise his batting average from 0.294 to 0.303 by recording 3 hits in 4 at-bats in the final game of the season against Doosan on the 17th. After the game, he said, “I absolutely had to hit 3. If I hit it, I would win, so I thought it was a good way to do it.” He added, “I think I have a good foundation because I will have opportunities to do better in the future and I need to do better. I think I have laid a good foundation. I will be more confident.” “I feel like I can play baseball to my heart’s content. I think that’s the biggest benefit.”
Ha Jae-hoon, who is entering his second postseason after converting to a batsman, said, “I don’t think about the postseason and just try to do my best for the task given. If I just rush in because I have a good feeling, it won’t go well.” “I think doing my best in what I can is the goal to advance to the Korean Series and ultimately win the championship,” he said.
He went on to say, “Winning is unconditional. In baseball, you must win unconditionally. I will run towards the goal of winning, and all my teammates are running towards that goal.” He then responded to the question of whether a ‘crazy player’ should appear, saying, “Shall I go crazy?” “I really want to go crazy,” he said with a smile.