Super awesome! Hard work paid off. Bae Ji-hwan boarded the MLB opening entry, and the chilly local media was also the best performance. Praise is given
Mar 25, 2025
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My dream has come true. The names of Korean players will appear again in the opening entry (26 players) of the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB). The main character is Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Bae Ji-hwan (26).
Bae Ji-hwan passed through the door of the MLB opening entry like a needle hole after continuing his hot hitting during the exhibition game. Pittsburgh's local media, which initially played down Bae Ji-hwan, saying, `It's not the major league level,' also showed the best performance to Bae Ji-hwan, who continued his performance," he said to warm applause.
It was a joining of the opening entry with skill and luck.
Bae Ji-hwan won Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton's heart by swinging a hard hit in the .400 range during the Major League exhibition game. Originally, Bae Ji-hwan was not a candidate for the opening entry. Because he didn't perform well in the Major League.
He played 111 games in 2023 and got more than 300 at-bats (334 at-bats), but only had a batting average of 0.231 (77 hits in 334) with 32 RBIs and 54 runs. In particular, while he had 30 walks, he had 92 strikeouts. Last year, he had only 74 at-bats in 29 games due to injuries.
Therefore, he had to be tested again from the bottom in this year's spring camp. The main position was too high a goal, and the best goal was to get on the opening entry as a backup.
Until early and mid-spring camp, the local atmosphere was not favorable to Bae Ji-hwan. MLB.COM and Pittsburgh's local media announced the expected list of Pittsburgh's opening entries toward the middle of the spring camp, but did not even mention Bae Ji-hwan's name. The response was only cold.
However, Bae Ji-hwan gradually changed his evaluation of himself by maintaining a hot hitting sense regardless of this. In the end, Bae Ji-hwan gradually emerged as an outfield backup candidate, and he will compete with Jack Swinsky (27), a big-handed outfielder who hit double-digit home runs (19 in 2022 and 26 in 2023) for the second consecutive year in the Major League.
Coach Shelton began to pay more attention to Bae Ji-hwan, who had a batting average, a hit, and a double in the team. In the end, Swinsky and Bae Ji-hwan alternately started at the end of the exhibition game. The non-starters intensively cross-compared the two players by putting them in as pinch-hitters in the second half of the game.
As a result, Swinsky came out in the eighth center field against Boston on the 22nd, and Bae Ji-hwan started in the first left field against Baltimore on the 23rd. Swinsky then started in center field at No. 5 against Toronto on the 24th.
On the 25th, the final day of the exhibition game, Bae Ji-hwan started as scheduled.
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But Bae Ji-hwan ruined 'Final College Scholastic Ability Test' He finished the game with no hits in two at-bats, one walk, and one score. His batting average in the .400 range also fell to 0.381 (16 hits in 42 at-bats). Bae Ji-hwan's final performance in the 2025 exhibition game was a batting average of 0.381 (16 hits in 42 at-bats) with one home run, four RBIs, 13 points, and three steals with an OPS of 1.017. It was Bae Ji-hwan's best performance in a major league exhibition game.
Certainly, it was a game that showed that more adaptation was needed for off-speed pitches that took out the 90-mile fastballs and timing thrown by built-in Major League pitchers. Bae Ji-hwan, like himself, hit the balls of minor-rit triple-A pitchers seeking to enter the Major League. Thanks to this, he hit a batting average of around 40 percent.
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Due to the sluggish performance against Minnesota, there were concerns that Bae Ji-hwan's entry into the opening entry could be turned on. However, Pittsburgh finally included Bae Ji-hwan in the opening entry.
After the game, the Pittsburgh club announced that it would send five players to a minor league camp. Right-handers Thomas Harrington, Carson Fulmer, Birch Smith, Tanner Rainey, and first baseman and outfielder DJ Stewart were ordered to spring camp in the minor leagues. Stewart was initially considered a likely player to enter the opening entry.
Bae Ji-hwan has been excluded. In fact, it's like entering the opening entry. There was one piece of good luck here. Spencer Howitz, the first baseman recruited by Pittsburgh in December last year, is undergoing rehabilitation after undergoing surgery on his right wrist in mid-February. It is highly likely that Howitz will open in the disabled list (DL).
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Pittsburgh Gazette, a local media outlet in Pittsburgh, praised Bae Ji-hwan and Swinsky for their two opening rosters as Stewart went to the minor league camp. "Bae Ji-hwan showed his best performance during the exhibition game, with 16 hits and 13 points, respectively."
There was some luck on board the opening entry, but it was purely a change made by Bae Ji-hwan's efforts that changed the evaluation of the local media, which was cold. But the real competition begins now. You have to show your skills on the major league stage in earnest. If you are sluggish, you can be notified of your trip to the Manner League right away. Attention is focusing on how Bae Ji-hwan will make use of his hard-won opportunity to board the Major League.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
