Kim Hye-sung, who stole a home run from a left-handed pitcher, is Rojas, who is weak in left-handed pitchers, convincing in starting platoon?
Jun 02, 2025
|
|
Los Angeles Dodgers' Kim Hye-sung played as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the eighth inning, trailing 3-7 in the final game of a three-game home series against the New York Yankees at Dodger Stadium on the 2nd (Korea time). When the Yankees put right-hander Devin Williams on the mound in the eighth inning, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts used left-handed hitter Kim Hye-sung instead of right-handed hitter Miguel Rojas.
However, Kim Hye-sung struck out swinging on a 95.2 mile fastball over Williams' high strike zone on the outside of her fifth pitch with a ball count of 2B2S.
|
Kim Hye-sung was able to start as the 9th shortstop in 'Thanks to', where Yankees right-hander Will Warren took the mound the previous day. Amid the overall team's strong batting lineup, Kim Hye-sung gave a powerful 18-2 victory by swinging four hits, two RBIs, three runs and one walk in four at-bats.
In particular, he not only showed off his impressive batting by hitting a superior two-run home run against left-hander Brent Hedrick in the bottom of the second inning, but also showed off his brilliant play by playing a double play as a shortstop in defense and catching Aaron Judge's hit as a center fielder.
However, Roberts excluded Kim Hye-sung without much thought when the left-hander was the starting pitcher.
Even so, Rojas didn't hit well against Yarbrough. He went 0 for 2. Rojas is batting .218 this season, and is rather weak against left-handed pitchers with 0.182 (8 hits in 44 at-bats) against left-handed pitchers and 0.256 (11 hits in 43 at-bats) against right-handed pitchers.
On the other hand, Kim Hye-sung is showing a strong batting average of 0.400 (18 hits in 45 at-bats) against right-handed pitchers. Headrick was the first to face a left-handed pitcher the day before, but he took away his second home run of the season. At this rate, there was nothing strange about Kim Hye-sung playing as a starter.
Critics point out that Roberts, who has been overly obsessed with the traditional opinion that left-handed hitters are weak against left-handed pitchers, is losing convincing power in his platoon method of thoroughly excluding Kim Hye-sung when selecting left-handed pitchers.
|
In addition, Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto lost three ⅔ innings, collapsing with seven hits, three walks and four runs. Yamamoto, who is considered a candidate for the NL Cy Young Award, saw his ERA soar from 1.97 to 2.39.
However, Max Muncy hit two hits, one RBI and one run from three times at bat, including a home run, showing good performance in three consecutive home runs, eight RBIs and four runs. Andy Pazs and Tommy Edman also contributed to scoring by hitting one solo home run each.
After three consecutive games with two wins and one loss, the Dodgers marked 36 wins and 23 losses and maintained their lead in the NL West. The gap with the second-place San Diego Padres (33-24) has narrowed to two games.
|
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.