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| The KBO League match between Samsung and KIA at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 25th. Samsung Diaz, who hits a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning and rejoices with his teammates. Daegu=Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2025.05.25/ |
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In just a month, he became a completely different hitter. What the hell happened.
Samsung Lions foreign hitter Lewin Diaz is a player who even appeared a month ago 'Exit Rumor'. Samsung renewed its contract with Diaz, who played baseball last fall, ahead of this season, but the pace at the beginning of the opening was not very good.
He has a batting average of .25 with four homers and 13 RBIs in 20 games since the opening. OPS 0.745. He had 19 hits, but he also had 16 strikeouts and a 0.284 on-base percentage, which was not good. It's not a very worst performance, but it hasn't shown the destructive power that Samsung can expect from a foreign hitter. As a result, there were rumors that Samsung, which wants WIN NOW, might be replacing the batter.
Coach Park Jin-man, who respected and watched his style because he was a foreign player, eventually had an interview. It was April 19th. Coach Park said to Diaz, `I tend to aim too much for long balls. I think I care too much about the long shot. Not only home runs are important, but when you need to get on base, you have to get on base, and when you need clutch skills, you have to make sure the offense is connected' asked.
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| Samsung-Hanwha match at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 6th. Diaz, with two outs and runners on the first and second bases, celebrates after hitting an RBI timely hit in the top of the third inning. Daejeon = Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025..5.6/ |
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For Diaz, the KBO League is also a stage of opportunity for 'Korean Dream'. It is true that most teams expect a long shot from a foreign hitter, and it is also true that a batter who hits a lot of long balls succeeds in renewing his contract at a high price. However, it is advised that Diaz seems to be overly conscious of home runs. In fact, Samsung has a home stadium called Lions Park with the most home runs, and with this advantage, it has several batters who can hit home runs in addition to Diaz.
Of course, it would be nice if the home run gun exploded together, but the central hitter's role that the coaching staff wants is a series of explosions of the team's batters rather than excessive home run consciousness. In other words, Diaz also directly ordered a hit that fits the situation rather than an extreme pull with a home run in mind.
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| A game between the Samsung Lions and the LG Twins at Lions Park in Daegu on the 10th. Samsung Diaz is cheering after hitting a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth inning with one out. Daegu=Park Jae-man Reporter pjm@sportschosun.com /2025.05.10/ |
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Surprisingly, Diaz listened to the coaching staff's advice and showed his change at the plate the next day. Against Diaz, the head coach of the opposing team said "In the beginning of the season, it was a swing and miss if you throw it to a weakness, but recently, it won't budge even if you throw it to the same place " The shortcomings were greatly reduced as he tried to maximize his strengths by enduring the swing and miss that he wielded on the high course of his body.
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| The KBO League match between Samsung and KIA at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 25th. Samsung Diaz, who hits a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning and rejoices with his teammates. Daegu=Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2025.05.25/ |
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After the interview, Diaz's batting performance increased significantly from April 20 to May 24. With a batting average of 344 (42 hits in 122 times at bat) with 15 homers and 43 RBIs, OPS is a whopping 1.175. If you look at the pace of homers, you can expect up to 54 homers when you complete this season. Diaz, currently the league's lone home run leader, swept two home runs and three RBIs, including a walk-off home run, in the match against the Daegu KIA Tigers on the 24th, running four clear of second-place Austin Dean (LG, 16). The season RBI is also overwhelmingly No. 1 with 58 RBIs, and the most hits are also No. 2 (64 hits) and No. 1 in slugging percentage (0.654), almost challenging to win four hits.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
