“It has definitely improved. The timing is okay because the production of hits is not good.”
Choi Won-ho, head coach of the Hanwha Eagles, said: The command tower is positively saying that it is getting better, but there are no results to prove it at all. This is the story of Brian O’Grady (31), a foreign hitter who emerged as the most troublesome problem for Hanwha this season.
On the 16th,메이저놀이터 against Lotte Giants in Daejeon, O’Gredi started as the 7th hitter and left fielder, and had no hits and 2 strikeouts in 2 at-bats. Wanting to lighten his load, he went down to bat seventh, but again only produced strikeouts. O’Grady is third in the division with 36 strikeouts this season. This is because I spent 18 days in the 2nd group reorganizing from the 23rd of last month to the 10th due to poor hitting.
O’Gredi’s batting average this season is 0.122 (9 hits in 74 at-bats). OPS is only 0.337. He was brought in for a whopping 900,000 dollars (approximately 1.2 billion won), and no matter how he adapts to an unfamiliar league, he is a near failing grade. While getting his 36 strikeouts, he only walked 5. It is a result that can be seen as a bat almost cutting through the air.
Director Choi, who was the commander of the 2nd Army until last week, looked back on the first time he met O’Grady and said, “Even when I first came down (to the 2nd Army), he said it was serious.
Coach Choi thinks that compared to the worst time, he is still improving a lot. Director Choi said, “It’s because hits aren’t produced well, but the timing is fine. I think it’ll get a little better. When a family comes in June, there’s a big difference between being alone and being with a family. My friends seem to have more homesickness,” he said, expressing his desire to wait until June.
However, O’Grady still failed to produce a hit. At the end of the 3rd inning, trailing by 0-1, he faced Lotte starting pitcher Charlie Barnes for the first time as the lead batter, and Barnes chose sliders with all 4 balls. O’Grady picked out the slider on the third pitch with a ball, but missed all three balls and struck out.
▲ O’Grady ⓒReporter Kwak Hye-mi
In the bottom of the 5th inning, lead hitter Choi Jae-hoon reached base with a double, and Oh Seon-jin connected to third base with a sacrifice bunt. It was a chance for Hanwha to finally attack Barnes, but unfortunately, O’Grady stood at bat. O’Grady held up well until the ball count was 3-1, then made two foul hits and struck out with a miss on the 7th fastball. In fact, it was no exaggeration to say that it was the moment when the command tower’s trust collapsed. The second baseman grounded until the next batter’s exit, so Hanwha blew away this golden opportunity.
Overall, Hanwha hitters couldn’t attack Barnes. Barnes tied up the Hanwha lineup with 3 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts and 1 run in 7 innings. Other players have also performed sluggishly overall, but it may be unfair that O’Grady, who continues to be sluggish, stands out.
In the bottom of the 8th inning, when lead batter Oh Seon-jin went on base with a double, coach Choi replaced O’Grady with pinch hitter Park Jung-hyun instead of trusting O’Grady once more. Park Jeong-hyun is a hitter with a batting average of 0.140 (6 hits in 43 at-bats) this season. Even though O’Grady and Park Jung-Hyun were 10% hitters in terms of performance, the fact that they changed it means that O’Grady doesn’t give that much trust.
O’Grady went back to the bench with his head bowed that day as well, and Hanwha played a close match that went to the 10th inning, but lost 1-3 and fell into a two-game losing streak. It is said that they believe in Eun-won Jeong, Si-hwan Noh, Eun-seong Chae, In-hwan Kim, etc., but when looking at the season long, the explosive power of foreign batters is an important variable that separates the upper and lower ranks. If Hanwha is setting a higher goal beyond being in last place, a decision must be made. The emergency signal has already sounded several times.