Guillermo Heredia, the new foreign hitter recruited by SSG Landers, was not the type of hitter who hit a lot of long hits.
Although he was a backup in the big leagues until the 2022 season, he played a good role, recording a career slugging percentage of 0.346 in the big leagues. Even in the 2021 season, when he entered 347 plate appearances for the Atlanta Braves, he had 5 home runs out of 67 hits, and his slugging percentage that season was 0.354.
There are many stories that he is similar to Juan La Garez, who played an active role in the second half of last season as a substitute hitter and won the championship. Although his objective skills in attack and defense were evaluated as being at the top of Heredia, it may be questionable that he brought in a player who was not a big hitter.
SSG has had a steady thirst for big foreign hitters over the past few years. Jamie Romac retired after hitting 20 homers in the 2021 season, and Kevin Kron, who was recruited ahead of last season, was judged to be of a similar type to Romac, but was kicked out due to poor performance. Cron showed solid power with 11 home runs in 243 plate appearances, but struck out 68 and his batting average was low at 2.2. After that, SSG changed the route to win the championship, recruited Lagares, and succeeded in finishing the season without a big gap.
What is the reason for recruiting heredia, a short-time hitter, without greed for a gigantic foreign hitter? First of all, when I analyzed Heredia’s hitting, I thought that he would be able to hit far more long hits in the KBO league than in the big leagues. Also, based on the failure of last season, I turned my attention to the other side. 토토사이트
Coach Won-hyung Kim said, “We are the No. 1 team in home runs (No. 1 with 138 homers in the 2022 season). It would be nice if Geopo would come, but I have seen that it is difficult to succeed. Seeing that we can change and succeed, I think it would be good for this type of hitter to come to our team as well. Ahead of this season, we had a lot of conversations with the club about recruiting foreign hitters about this.”
Of course, the most ultimate reason for such a decision is the existence of Jeon Eui-san, a great prospect to be raised as the team’s future leading hitter.
Last year, when Cron was sluggish in the first half and went down to the 2nd team, manager Kim Won-hyung did not have a replacement in mind. He really hoped to come back to his full potential. However, in the meantime, the mountain before the first baseman who was called up to the first team stage of his debut fluttered, creating tension. In the end, the most decisive reason for letting Cron go and bringing Lagares was because of the war.
Of course, Jeon Eui-san is a promising player who still needs to grow. However, the club is paying attention to his potential and potential and is trying to give him more opportunities. Director Kim Won-hyeong said, “Shouldn’t we raise Uisan? Of course, I don’t want Jeon Eui-san to do everything right away. If Uisan is having a hard time, (Choi) Joo-hwan or (Oh) Tae-gon can do it. Even taking this into account, it is right to give Jeon Eui-san a chance from a long-term perspective.”
