The Hanhwa, which was the first in Korean professional baseball to rank at the bottom of the league for three consecutive years, is raising expectations for this season by making a series of victories in the spring camp practice game.
On the 22nd (Korean time), Hanwha won a sweeping 15-4 victory over the Netherlands in a practice match held at Salt River Fields at Talking Stock in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. On the 19th, they also won 4-1 in a practice game against the Netherlands.
In Game 1, pitching power In Game 2, the batting line shone. Moon Dong-ju, who started the first game, threw a fast ball up to 156 km and scored two scoreless innings먹튀검증. Nam Ji-min, Kim Jae-young, Yoon Dae-gyeong, and Yoon Sam-heum also led the victory by overpowering the opponent’s batting line.
In Game 2, his offensive power exploded with 15 hits. Rookie Moon Hyun-bin got 2 hits in 3 at-bats and new foreigner Brian O’Grady recorded 1 hit in 3 at-bats. Noh Si-hwan fired a home run. Kim In-hwan, who competed for the rookie award last year, contributed to the victory with Chae Eun-seong and Oh Seon-jin, who were recruited as multi-hit free agents (FA), with one hit each.
The Netherlands reached the semifinals in the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC). The Netherlands, which belongs to Group A in the 1st round of the 2023 WBC, may meet Korea in the quarterfinals.
During the practice game with Hanwha, key players such as Xander Bogarts (San Diego) and Kenley Jansen (Boston) were left out. However, with experienced Andrelton Simmons, Jonathan Scoop, Didi Gregorius, and Roger Bernardina, the main player of the 2017 Kia Unified Championship, they cannot be considered weak.
Hanwha has hardly strengthened its strength, such as recruiting outside players, in recent years for the reason of ‘rebuilding’. However, this year, they were also active in recruiting players. Internal free agent Jang Si-hwan was caught and outfielder Chae Eun-seong was brought from LG for 6 years and 9 billion won.
Pitcher Lee Tae-yang and infielder Oh Seon-jin, who belonged to Hanwha, were also brought back. Recently, outfielder Lee Myung-ki was recruited through a sign-and-trade method. In addition to the existing Jung Eun-won and Roh Si-hwan, the team has grown thicker as second-year pitcher Moon Dong-ju and ‘special rookie’ Kim Seo-hyun were added.
There is still more than a month left before the season starts. However, starting with power reinforcement, spring camp and practice game victory report. Hanwha’s move to escape sluggishness has been going smoothly so far.