Will Korea’s best ‘great sword’ be born beyond Choo Shin-soo (41)?
Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Bae Ji-hwan (24), who is aiming to become a full-time major leaguer, is expected to steal 30 bases this year.메이저사이트
On the 24th (Korean time) ahead of the opening of the fantasy league, ESPN, an American sports media outlet, made major predictions for each National League team.
‘ESPN’ only mentioned two players in the Pittsburgh Pirates, and one of them was Bae Ji-hwan.
“ESPN’s prediction is that Jihwan Bae will be on the major league roster through spring training and will record 30 stolen bases while mainly playing second base.” ‘ESPN’ predicted that Bae Ji-hwan’s ability to steal bases in the minor leagues would work in the major leagues as well. In fact, Bae Ji-hwan recorded 30 stolen bases in Triple-A last year.
Bae Ji-hwan, who briefly stepped on the major league stage last year, recorded 3 stolen bases even though he only appeared in 10 games and did not steal a single base. Although the sample is small, his batting average of .333, on-base percentage of .405, and slugging percentage of .424 with 11 hits and 6 RBIs raise expectations for his performance this season. Bae Ji-hwan is currently looking to enter the opening roster in Pittsburgh’s spring training.
If Bae Ji-hwan steals 30 bases as expected by ‘ESPN’, he will break the record for the most stolen bases in a single season for Koreans. The current record holder is Choo Shin-soo, whose career high was 22 stolen bases in 2010 while playing for the Cleveland Indians (now the Cleveland Guardians). At the time, he also hit 22 home runs and even joined the 20 home run-20 steal club for the second year in a row. The number of stolen bases in the major league career is 157.
The media also mentioned O’Neill Cruise along with Bae Ji-hwan in Pittsburgh. “Cruz will be the first player in major league history to strike out 200 times and still have a 30 home run-30 stolen base season,” the media predicts.
In addition to this, ‘ESPN’ predicted that “Las Nutba will hit 30 home runs” in the St. Louis Cardinals, and “Nelson Cruz and Matt Carpenter will jointly hit 50 home runs” in the San Diego Padres. In the Chicago Cubs, the media, which brought out the name of Cody Bellinger, predicted that “Bellinger will rebound with a batting average of .250 and 30 homers and record a career-high 19 stolen bases.”