When I came back, I was like, "Gamdasal"? Triple-A Bae Ji-hwan exploded multi-hit for two consecutive days, and big league again if he maintains his pace

Jun 30, 2025

Bad Ji-hwan (far right) of Triple-A Indianapolis under Pittsburgh smiles brightly with his teammates after winning 3-2 at home against the Omaha Stormchasers on the 30th. Bae Ji-hwan scored two hits, one RBI, and one run from five times at bat on the day. In particular, he hit a timely hit in the bottom of the seventh inning when he was trailing 0-1, leading the game to come from behind.

Photo = Indianapolis official SNS capture

Bae Ji-hwan (26), who returned to Triple-A in the minor league after rehabilitation, showed off his peak hitting sense with two consecutive multi-hit games. He had five hits in two days.

Bae Ji-hwan, who belongs to Triple-A Indianapolis Indians under the Pittsburgh Pirates, started as the first center fielder against Omaha Stormchasers (under the Kansas City Royals) in the minor league Triple-A home game at Victory Field in Indianapolis, Indiana, on the morning of the 30th (Korea time).

Bae Ji-hwan, who was active the previous day with three hits and three runs from four times at bat, achieved multi-hitters on the same day and finally raised his batting average for the season to 270. His batting average increased from 0.269 to 0.274 (34 hits in 124 at-bats). OPS also rose slightly to 0.728.

It was a performance that raised expectations for his return to the Major League.

Bae Ji-hwan showed good performance in this year's spring camp and joined the opening entry of the Major League Baseball dramatically. However, it went down to the minor leagues after just two games. Bae Ji-hwan, who was looking for Kwon's return from Triple-A Indianapolis, was called up to the big league again on May 10. But it didn't last long again this time. He was sent back to the minor leagues after a week of sluggish performance with one hit in seven at-bats in five games.

Bae Ji-hwan, who returned to the minor leagues, had to fight the injury this time. Indianapolis announced on May 24 that it would include the badge on its seven-day injured list, retroactively applying it as of the 23rd. Bae Ji-hwan, who has been rehabilitating for more than three weeks since then, has played a rehabilitation game in Single A since the 18th and returned to Triple A on the 29th.

'Second minor league demotion' and 'Injuries'. It's a big ordeal for Bae Ji-hwan. However, Bae Ji-hwan seems to have trained himself more through this. This is because he is hitting hard every day as soon as he returns to Triple-A.

Bae Ji-hwan, who came out as the second designated hitter in the game against the Stormchasers the previous day and shot three times in four at-bats, even took charge of defense in the game. At the same time, he had two more hits. It seems that the sense of hitting has been revived.

In his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning, he was out with a fly ball to the third base in four pitches against opponent starter Thomas Hatch. In his second at-bat in the bottom of the third inning, he also hit a fly ball to center field to Hatch after three pitches. The well-hit ball was caught deep in the outfield as it headed toward the center field.

However, he finally had a hit in the bottom of the fifth inning with one out and one on the first base. I beat the hatch this time. He pulled the second-low cutter (89.6 miles) from the ball count 1B and connected it to a hit to the right. Following Bae Ji-hwan's hit, the follow-up Billy Cook walked, giving him a chance to load the bases with one out. However, with the bases loaded with one out, Nick Solak hit a ground ball leading to 'striker-second baseman-first baseman', so Indianapolis' first scoring opportunity was blown away.

Bae Ji-hwan, who saved his senses with a hit in the bottom of the fifth inning, hit a timely hit in the fourth at-bat in the bottom of the seventh inning and showed a full-fledged performance.

In the bottom of the seventh inning when trailing 0-1, Indianapolis leadoff hitter Brett Sullivan's walk and subsequent double to left field by Alika Williams created chances for second and third bases with no outs. At this time, Bae Ji-hwan, who came to the batter's box, pulled the fourth change-up (84.2 miles) from the ball count 1B2S against Junior Ferdinand and hit a timely hit to make it 1-1.

He then went out as a third baseman with two outs and a full base, and then homered when Nick York hit a timely hit to the right, achieving a 2-1 come-from-behind score. At that time, second baseman Nick Solak also homered to make it 3-1. Indianapolis gave up one run in the top of the eighth, but then blocked another run to seal the victory.

Bae Ji-hwan showed off his hot batting performance of 0.556 (5 hits in 9 at-bats) in two games after his return. First of all, the flow is good after the injury. The key is to keep this pace as long as possible. Then the call-up opportunity comes again.

Currently, Pittsburgh is the lowest in the National League Central. It is virtually unlikely to advance to the postseason as it has 14.5 games against the Chicago Cubs, the No. 1 player in the district. This means that it can give several players a chance. Bae Ji-hwan can also have a lot of opportunities.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.