Look! It's good to hold it in. Bae Ji-hwan, who returned to the leadoff, achieved three hits in his first game of the season. suggested the possibility of an MLB call-up

Apr 18, 2025

Look! It's good to hold it in. Bae Ji-hwan, who returned to the leadoff, achieved three hits in his first game of the season. suggested the possibility of an MLB call-up
Indianapolis SNS Capture



Did he finally realize the virtue of patience.

Bae Ji-hwan (26, Indianapolis), who was struggling with poor batting in the 10% range in the minor league Triple-A, returned to the leadoff and played three hits for the first time this season.

Bae Ji-hwan started in left field against Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens (under the Detroit Tigers) at Victory Field in Indianapolis, Indiana on the 18th (Korea time). It is worth noting that he returned to the leadoff two days after the match against Toledo on the 16th.




Originally, Bae Ji-hwan continued to start as the first hitter after going down to the minor league. The defensive position went between center field and left field, but the batting order was always number one.

However, Bae Ji-hwan did not play his role as a leadoff hitter properly. He came out as the team's leadoff for six consecutive games from the away game against Louisville Bats (Triple A team under the Cincinnati Reds) on the 9th, but his batting average was only 0.160 (4 hits in 25 at-bats).

In addition, he was exposed to too fast a game and a habit of swinging at a bad ball, unlike the leadoff. Therefore, even in favorable ball count, he often ended up hitting or striking out due to hasty hitting. Fast games within five pitches often came out, and as a result, only three walks were obtained, while nine strikeouts were made.




In the end, Bae Ji-hwan was excluded from the starting list at the match against Toledo on the 17th. Then, in the top of the second inning, he played as a logistical guard and was placed in the eighth batting order and recorded one hit in five at-bats. All three previous at-bats were hit for the first time in the bottom of the ninth inning after stepping down with a mistake. However, in the bottom of the 12th inning of extra time, he only grounded out to first base when he had a chance to finish second base with no outs.

Perhaps thanks to one hit, the Indianapolis coaching staff called Bae Ji-hwan back to the leadoff. If even this opportunity was missed, even staying in Triple-A could have been threatened.

Look! It's good to hold it in. Bae Ji-hwan, who returned to the leadoff, achieved three hits in his first game of the season. suggested the possibility of an MLB call-up
Bad Ji-hwan, who scored the final score in the bottom of the sixth inning. Hwan?k scored Linol and won?Indianapolis Broadcasting Screen Caption
Bae made good use of this opportunity. Perhaps he felt a sense of crisis, he refrained from 'urgent competition', which had been pointed out as a problem, and tried to play the game as carefully as possible at bat. The result was three hits in four at-bats, one walk, one steal, and four points. He was 100% faithful to the role of leadoff. His batting average for the season also rose from 0.167 to 2.35 (8 hits in 34 at-bats).




Thanks to Bae Ji-hwan's good leadoff role in a long time, Indianapolis also won 7-6 and achieved the winning series against Toledo with two consecutive wins after one loss.

Bae Ji-hwan made a smart play that caught the opponent off guard from his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning. The opposing starter was Detrick Ness, who won 13 games (five losses) as a starter in the KBO League LG Twins last year.

Ence's first four-seam fastball (90 miles) went up the middle. It was a real throw. Bae saved his organs here. Instead of hitting, he threw a surprise push bunt and ran to first base. A nearly perfect bunt hit came out toward the third baseman.

Opponent third baseman Lee Hao-yu caught the ball in a hurry and threw it to first base, but it became a bad pitch. In the meantime, Bae Ji-hwan went around the first base leisurely and advanced to the second pitch. It was recorded as a throwing error following an infield hit. Bae Ji-hwan, who went to the scoring position leisurely, went to third base when Nick Solak's subsequent groundout in front of the shortstop, and scored his team's first run on Malcolm Nunez's timely double.

Look! It's good to hold it in. Bae Ji-hwan, who returned to the leadoff, achieved three hits in his first game of the season. suggested the possibility of an MLB call-up
AFP Yonhap News
Perhaps because of his good play in his first at-bat, Bae Ji-hwan hit a double in his second at-bat after one out in the bottom of the third inning when the score was 1-1. As expected, the opponent was ENCE.

Bae Ji-hwan showed a complete difference in this at-bat. He carefully picked the ball at the plate and overcame the unfavorable ball count. First-pitch strikes and second-pitch swings drove the ball count to 0B2S. However, Bae Ji-hwan fouled out the four-seam on the third pitch and calmly picked out two balls. The ball count is 2B2S.

Ence's sixth-pitch cutter (84.9 miles) came in low. Bae Ji-hwan scooped it up and hit a double to right field. It was a hard hit, with a batting speed of 106 miles. Bae Ji-hwan, who went to second base, came back home on Solak's left-handed double and scored a come-from-behind score.

Bae Ji-hwan also faced Ence in his third at-bat in the bottom of the fifth inning and played a long game of up to nine pitches. It was Bae Ji-hwan's longest match this year. At last, he seemed to realize the virtue of perseverance. This time, the early match went unfavorable. Strike-ball-strike-foul quickly drove to the ball count of 1B2S.

Ence threw a changeup that fell full into his body for the fifth pitch. It was a game ball for inducing swings and misses with good control. If it was Bae Ji-hwan until the previous day, he might have been swung and missed. However, Bae Ji-hwan of the day was a batter who knew 'Truthfulness'. I watched the ball. The ball count is 2B2S. The highest four-seam is a foul. He also put up with a cutter that slightly escaped the outer zone on the seventh pitch. It's a full count. The 8th pitch, 92.4 miles, is a foul.

I finally got to the 9th ball. Ence played the game with four hearts, but it was too low. Bae Ji-hwan finally won. He reached first base with a walk and succeeded in getting on base for the third time on the day.

Ence, who lost to Bae Ji-hwan after a whopping nine pitches, was shaken. Solak made a throwing error when he grounded out in front of the pitcher. Every runner lived. Bae Ji-hwan went to third base with a fast foot, and then easily entered the home when Nunez's sacrifice fly to right field.

Look! It's good to hold it in. Bae Ji-hwan, who returned to the leadoff, achieved three hits in his first game of the season. suggested the possibility of an MLB call-up
In the bottom of the sixth inning, he hit his second double of the day. He came out as the leadoff hitter and hit an 87.4 mile changeup on the sixth pitch after a full count match against Joe Adames to make a left-handed double. Bae Ji-hwan, who later stole third base, came home when Solak hit right and made it 7-6. This was the winning goal of the day. Both the first and final points came from Bae Ji-hwan's feet.

Bae Ji-hwan, who played 100 points as a leadoff, stepped down at the bottom of the eighth inning with a fly ball to center field. He had already done his share. The batting, the trailblazing, and the baserunning were all impeccable. The same play on this day is what makes the Major League call-up possible. Attention is focusing on whether Bae Ji-hwan can use this game as a starting point for change.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.