NC Dinos’ Kim Joo-won (22) is finally smiling after escaping from the Mendoza line (a batter whose batting average is around 20% even though he fills the regular at-bats).먹튀검증
Kim had a batting average of 0.500 (six hits in 12 at-bats) and two RBIs in five games last week, when NC Dinosaurs had won the 11th consecutive game. He was the second-ranked player in the batting average during the week, the first in slugging percentage (1.000), and the first in on-base percentage (0.700). Cho A-pharmaceutical company and our magazine named Kim the MVP of the fourth week of August. “It is a great honor to receive such an award for the first time. I hope this award will serve as an opportunity to do better,” Kim said with a smile.
Kim’s goal this year was to hit .250 or higher in the batting average and double-digit homers. Up until last year, his overall batting average for the first team was 0.235, or the most homeruns in a single season. However, he hit the first .230 batting average of this season only on May 10. It fell back to the .100 level in mid-June. Since then, he has stayed at the .100 level for more than a month, rising and falling throughout the season with the .100 level of batting average.
Kim Joo-won said, “The batting slump continued too long. I had to fight with the pitcher at bat, but I was trapped by myself as I was worried about my batting posture or sluggishness.”
He shaved his head early in the season out of frustration, saying, “I was under a lot of stress. It was very hard because it didn’t work out as I wanted,” he said. “I’m trying to help here and there, but the more I do, the more I get confused.”
Kim was the winner of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games last year. Since then, he has gained experience through the postseason. After the season ended, he participated in the Asian Baseball Championship and was named the “Best 9.” He has emerged as the next generation shortstop for the Korean national team. “Given the expectations and favorable reviews from people around me, I thought I should do well,” Kim said.
From August 1 to 27, Kim had a batting average of .350 in 18 games, escaping from a slump. He can also achieve a batting average of .228 with seven homers and 35 RBIs for this season. “I made sure to keep the distance between my body and the ball as short as possible and fast as possible. It is not my area after the ball has been hit. Since I thought to reduce the distance to the ball, balls that used to swing or foul will lead to in-play balls,” Kim said.
“Regardless of individual performance, I will try to show competitive performance in every game. I want to give the image of a player who is always good like (Park) Min-woo,” Kim said.
The NC Dinosaurs dropped to the bottom of the list due to a string of key players’ injury. The team garnered a win and one loss against the leading KIA Tigers last weekend, successfully reversing the mood. “The team has slowed down recently, but we will continue to play the remaining games well to prolong the autumn baseball season,” Kim said.