SSG Landers left-handed batting prospect Jeon Eui-san recently hit his first home run after being called up to the first team and helped the team win. After a rough first half due to a combination of injuries and inconsistency, SSG is ready to swing the bat again.
SSG won the 10th game of the season against the Doosan Bears of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League 7-5 at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on April 26. The victory erased the disappointment of a 1-10 loss the day before and maintained an absolute lead in the season series against Doosan with a 7-3 record.
The road to victory was not smooth. With a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, a blown save by trusted setup man Noh Kyung-eun cut Doosan’s lead to 3-5.
However, SSG immediately responded in the top of the eighth inning. After a leadoff single by Kim Kang-min, Ha Jae-hoon quickly tied the game at 5-5 with a ground home run.
Before the dust had settled on Ha’s grounder, Jeon Ui-san stepped up to the plate. Jeon hit a solo home run over the right-center field fence off Doosan sidearm Park Chi-kook. On a full count, he took a seven-pitch, 134-kilometer changeup with a perfect swing.
After confirming that the ball had cleared the fence, Jeon raised his right arm in celebration. It had been two and a half months since he hit his third home run of the season on June 3 against the Kiwoom Heroes, and the thrilling touch helped him break out of his slump.
Jeon’s performance continued. With SSG holding a 6-5 lead in the top of the ninth inning, he picked off Doosan closer Jung Chul-won with a bases-loaded walk to drive in another run.
SSG held on to the two-run lead thanks to Jeon’s home run and a walk-off single to end the night with a win on Saturday. For Jeon, it was his first home run since returning to the first team on April 18, and it gave him a confidence boost.
“The home run in the top of the eighth inning felt so good on the bat that I thought it would go over,” Jeon said after the game. “It was a tie game, so I felt even better than usual and the ceremony got bigger.”
“I think the parts that I prepared in the Futures League are showing up in my game, and my hitting is getting better,” he said. “I had a hard time in the second team, but the training coach and hitting coach Park Jung-kwon paid a lot of attention to me, so I didn’t feel too bad.”
In his rookie season last year, Jeon broke out with a .249 (60-for-241) batting average with 13 home runs, 45 RBIs and a .797 OPS in 77 games. He helped SSG win the first “wire-to-wire” unified title in KBO history.
He was expected to grow even more this year, but he experienced some unexpected growing pains. In the first half of the year, SSG slumped to a .192 (19-for-99) batting average with three home runs and 16 RBIs in 38 games. A hamstring injury in late June added to his struggles.
Fortunately, Jeon has been able to find his normal hitting pace with a four-game hitting streak from June 19 against the LG Twins to June 26 against Doosan. Most importantly, Kim Won-hyung’s emphasis on emptying out the “greed” is working.
Before the game against Doosan on the 26th, Kim Won-hyung said, “Jeon Eui-san always says that if you don’t get greedy, you’ll get better. If you look at him when he was bad this season, I think he got greedy. His fastball is late and his changeup comes out at the right time.” “I think if Jeon gets rid of his greed a little bit, he’ll get a lot of hits and his batting average will go up. As he gains confidence, he will be able to fight the count better.”
Jeon Ui-san also reflected, “I think I’m getting good at-bats when I stop being greedy and move my hitting point a little further forward.” “In the top of the ninth inning, I got greedy and missed some balls,” he said.먹튀검증
“Establishing my own strike zone, thinking about the zone, and practicing a lot of batting practice also helped,” he said, adding, “I will do my best to achieve better results without being complacent.”