Lee Jae-hyun, the main shortstop of the Samsung Lions, hit his 11th homer of the season in a home game against the SSG Landers at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 4th. He hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth inning with a 5-2 lead, but he rolled up a fork ball that fell below the strike zone to make it a home run.메이저사이트
Most of the cases where a fork ball is made into a home run were caused by a batter who waited for the timing of a fastball while coming to the strike zone due to a pushback because the fork ball did not fall properly. It is a strategy of batters to pick out a fork ball that falls with a ball.
However, Lee Jae-hyun hit a fork ball that fell with the ball properly to make it a home run.
Lee Jae-hyun, who did not hit a fork ball falling low on the first pitch, made a home run by rolling up a 126km fork ball that fell almost the same as the first pitch on the second pitch. Lee Jae-hyun explained, “I thought Seo Jin-yong’s pitcher would hit only one fork ball until the fork ball became his main weapon. The second fork ball came in almost the same trajectory as the first pitch, so I think it was familiar to my eyes and the timing was good.”
In this case, people wait in the timing of a fork ball, which can cause them to fail to cope with fastballs. “Of course, most of me also set the timing for a fastball. I only aimed for a fork ball this time and thought that I would aim until I hit one strike,” Lee added. As a result, Lee’s strategy hit the bull’s eye.
Lee Jae-hyun had three hits, three RBIs and one walk from four times at bat, including a wedge home run. Lee, who was on base with a pitch ball at his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning, hit a ground ball in front of the shortstop in the bottom of the third inning, sending the first baseman to the second base with no outs.
In the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs and runners on the first and second bases, Lee scored an RBI single by hitting a forkball by Seo Jin-yong with two outs and runners on the second base in the bottom of the sixth inning, making a wedge-shaped two-run shot that went well over the left fence. In the bottom of the eighth inning, he had two hits in the middle to complete a three-hit game. He had three hits (one homer) in four times at bat, three RBIs, one run and one out, leading his team to an 8-3 victory.
Lee Jae-hyun said his first hit in the fourth inning was the driving force behind his home run.
Lee Jae-hyun made a hit by hitting Kim Taek-hyung’s fastball, which was driven 135km into the middle of the fourth pitch, at 3B at the time. “I got a heating sign at 3B. As far as I remember, I think I hit only about two times even though I had a strike when I got a hit four times at 3B,” Lee Jae-hyun said. “The autograph came out this time, so I hit it with the thought of hitting it because it’s not working well these days, but I felt like I was getting the timing right then.”
Lee Jae-hyun, who hit seven home runs in 2022, his first year since his debut, hit 12 last year and this is his 11th this year. His slugging percentage has significantly improved from 0.378 last year to 0.457 this year.
Lee Jae-hyun, who once expressed his desire to hit many home runs in interviews, thought his slugging capability would increase as he thought. However, it was the opposite.
“When I was young, I just wanted to hit a lot of home runs because they were attractive,” Lee said. “However, when I played in the game, home runs weren’t everything. We need to be accurate and have a good eye for home runs.”
Was taking a break from the bench helpful? “Honestly, I’m not that tired. I think I took a break because of my poor performance, but I don’t have any physical problems. I didn’t think I was tired last year, but I was out at the beginning of the season this year, so I played only about 70 games, so I’m not that tired,” Lee said.
The best way to spend the hot summer is to rest well. Rather, sleeping properly is to sleep well. Lee Jae-hyun said, “If I sleep too much, I will sleep only for about 8 hours because I feel sick.” Lee Jae-hyun said, “I get rid of fatigue by sleeping well for more than 10 hours on my day off. And since it’s hot, I eat something cool and hydrate a lot. It’s not that hard to stay in a cool place.”