“Let’s throw hard and cool, that’s all I thought about.”
Jang Jun-won (KT Wiz) started at shortstop in the No. 9 spot in the lineup against the Samsung Lions of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League on Sunday at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, South Korea, and went 1-for-3 with a home run, an RBI, and a run scored. Jang’s RBI triple gave KT the lead for good and they held on for a 6-5 victory. It was their fourth straight win.
Jang Jun-won joined KT from LG in a trade last May. However, he suffered an ACL tear in July while playing defense. After 10 months of rehabilitation, he returned to the first team in May.
Prior to this game, Jang had appeared in 24 games with a .103 OPS with four hits, two doubles, three RBIs and a .346 batting average. Jang was clearly frustrated by his lackluster performance.
“I didn’t play well in the first team, and I’ve been playing badly, but I’m grateful that I’m still in the first team, and I’m still thinking about doing well every time I go out,” he said after the game.
Jang Jun-won said, “When you come back after surgery and rehabilitation, you have to get rid of the image of a rehabilitation player and play like a first-team player. I’ve never hit so long in baseball before, so I felt like I was getting smaller,” he said.
“I was trying to be bold, to be a little bit more aggressive, but I kept getting the opposite result, and I think that’s when I got intimidated and didn’t follow through, so I was intimidated in any situation,” he added.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Jang had a crucial opportunity. Trailing 2-3 and with the bases loaded, Jang stepped up to the plate. Baek’s first and second pitches were out of the strike zone, giving him a 2B0S opportunity. Jang didn’t miss the opportunity. He took a three-pitch fastball and crushed it over the right-field fence and onto the walking track. 메이저놀이터
It was Jang’s third RBI in as many at-bats. It was Jang’s first game-winning hit in a KT uniform.
Jang recalled his first at-bat in the seventh inning. “First of all, I was grateful for the opportunity. I was a little nervous. I hit a fastball in my previous at-bat, so this time I went in looking for a slider, and luckily I started with a two-ball.” “I just wanted to hit it hard to the center of the bat,” he said. That’s what the coach asked me to do,” he said.
“I think I’ve been making a lot of check swings lately and not making a lot of confident swings. That’s not what I want to do and what the team wants me to do, but I think I kept doing that. The coach told me to swing hard and cool because it’s okay to miss, so I just went in with that in mind.” 메이저사이트주소