It is desirable for a foreign batter to enter the center batting order of No. 5, but given the current appearance of Nick Williams (30), it will take time. Williams, who made his KBO League debut as a substitute on the 27th of last month, has been sluggish with a batting average of 1.76 (9 hits in 51 at-bats), one home run, four RBIs, 14 strikeouts, and a .192 slugging rate of .294 OPS.486 in 12 games until the NC match on the 22nd.
On the 30th of last month, the third game of his debut, he reported his first home run against Daegu Samsung, but his weaknesses were soon revealed. Former Hanwha manager Kim In-sik, who is famous as a “national coach,” also praised Hanwha’s good performance, which won eight consecutive games in 18 years earlier this month, but said, “Williams is questionable.” I don’t think he’s such a good hitter now. Slow breaking balls or some hitting, weak on fastballs. “It is likely to be a variable for Hanwha’s challenge to the semifinals,” he said.
As head coach Kim In-sik said, Williams hit the breaking ball well, but the timing of the hitting kept being late due to the fast ball. Coach Choi Won-ho and other coaching staff ordered, “It’s okay to be struck out, so hit it in front of the hitting point,” but it didn’t get better. The batting order, which started with four, also went down to seven in the last four games after one game.
Ahead of the match against NC on the 21st, the first game of the second half, coach Choi Won-ho said, “Williams is moving the center with a turn in place when he copies who. While hitting, the body steps back, but it cannot put weight on its front legs. It doesn’t matter if you play well in your own style, but if you don’t, you can’t leave it as it is. “If it’s not good in this three consecutive games, I’m trying to push a little harder in the batting part,” he said, also revealing the possibility of coaches’ intervention over the batting form.
Williams hit one hit in four at-bats in both games from the 21st to the 22nd, but all missed balls became hits. In the match on the 21st, he responded as he did against Pedi. Coach Choi said, “It was good to respond to the pedi ball,” but on the 22nd, the timing was not right with only two infield fly balls, and I couldn’t see any cool long balls.
It is too early to make a hasty evaluation as he has now entered 52 at-bats in 12 games. Coach Choi also said, “We are still in the process of adapting, and we need to see a little more.” However, it is worrisome that there are no walks in 52 at-bats, and the quality of the at-bat is not good. Although the sample is not large, he is particularly vulnerable to chances with one hit in 13 at-bats, a batting average of 7,77, and seven strikeouts.
Hanwha’s Brian O’Gredi, who gave up renewing his contract with Mike Tuckman, who played well last year, failed. O’Gredi was released with a batting average of 1.25 batting average (10 hits in 80 at-bats), 8 RBIs, 5 walks, 40 strikeouts, and an on-base percentage of .174 slugging percentage of .163 OPS.337 in 22 games.
Some said that it would be better than Ogredi even if any player would come. Williams, who was recruited three weeks after Ogredi’s release, is a little better than Ogredi, but is also struggling to adapt due to a batting average of 10 percent. If Williams fails to rebound, Hanwha will also be forced to fall behind in the semi-final fight race.
BY: 스포츠토토