The slump continues for infielder Xander Bogaerts, who the San Diego Padres ambitiously hired. There are also voices of doubt about his value in the local area.
As of the 19th (Korea time), Bogartz played in 20 games, batting .200 with one home run and seven RBIs with an on-base percentage of 0.273 OPS of 0.536.
Prior to the 2023 season, San Diego signed an 11-year, $280 million (about 386 billion won) large contract with Bogartz.
With Bogartz’s recruitment, infield traffic has become inevitable. Bogartz is in charge of shortstop, Kim Ha-sung moved to second base and Fernando Tatis Jr. moved to the outfield.
However, Bogartz failed to pay the price properly. He had only 19 home runs. He recorded the worst record since 2017 with a batting average of 0.285 and an OPS of 0.790.
There were trials and errors, too. Jake Cronenworth, who was formerly a second baseman, moved to the first baseman and had his worst season in his career with a batting average of 0.229.
It was a positive development for Kim Ha-sung. After easing burden on his defense, Kim displayed good performance with a batting average of 0.260 with 17 homers and 38 steals, with an OPS of 0.749, in 152 games last year. Notably, he played a key role in San Diego’s offense until mid-to-late this season.
It paid off after the season ended. Kim Ha-sung embraced the “golden glove” in the utility category of the National League. Kim Ha-sung was the first Asian infielder to win a gold glove in the Major League Baseball.
Then, the San Diego Padres made changes again. Bogartz became the second baseman by exchanging seats with Kim Ha-sung this year. He showed disappointment in offense performance, which is interpreted as San Diego’s calculation that he will not take defensive risks. He aimed to maximize his offense power while easing Bogartz’ burden on defense.
But this San Diego choice is not working again. 노래방알바
Bogaerts moved to lead off, but he still hasn’t been able to display value in his offense.
Japan is also pointing fingers at Bogatsu’s sluggish performance. Japan’s full count said, “It may be premature to criticize him on his batting performance after watching the opening 20 games. However, Kim Ha-sung, who showed brilliant performance as a gold glove player last year, has a batting average of 0.227 in 21 games, three homers and four steals, and an OPS of 0.777 in his batting performance. Kim Ha-sung will become a free agent after the end of the season, but under the current circumstances, he has changed his position with Bogatsu.”