If you were a Hanwha and KIA player, you should be recognized for the power of a monster rookie who filled the regular at-bats
Aug 03, 2025
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This was said by baseball officials who watched the performance of KT Wiz monster rookie Ahn Hyun-min this year. Ahn Hyun-min is already loved by KT fans enough, but it is true that his interest was relatively low even though he was performing well enough to be treated as a leading hitter in the league. This is the background of the voice that if you were a player of Hanwha or KIA, which belongs to the club with the most fandom in the KBO League, you would have received much more attention than now.
Finally, as the regulatory batting was completed, Ahn Hyun-min's value began to be revealed much more clearly. Ahn Hyun-min had a batting average of 0.365 (95 hits in 260 at-bats), an on-base percentage of 0.476, a slugging percentage of 0.642, 18 home runs and 60 RBIs in 74 games until the 2nd. It ranked first overwhelmingly in the batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.
Of course, OPS (1.118), which is a combination of on-base plus slugging percentage, also ranked first. However, OPS is not a category in which KBO officially selects winners after the season.
Ahn Hyun-min had a clear advantage in the rookie race as he ranked first in the four batting categories. It is a tremendous pace that you can expect both the Rookie of the Year and the MVP title. In the meantime, I couldn't tell because I didn't meet the regulations, but now I can definitely appeal myself.
Ahn Hyun-min graduated from Masan High School and joined KT as 38th in the fourth round of the second round of the 2022 Rookie Draft, and this year is his fourth year as a professional, but he is actually a rookie. He made his debut in the first division last year, his third year as a professional, and only 29 at-bats in 16 games maintained his qualification to challenge for this year's Rookie of the Year award.
It is no exaggeration to say that KT coach Lee Kang-chul spent a season this year just to see Ahn Hyun-min. As such, I watched Ahn Hyun-min with affection.
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Coach Lee has always said that Ahn Hyun-min has an outstanding eye for picking balls to the extent that he does not strike out well even though he is a big shot. This is evidenced by the figures of batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.
Of course, there was a crisis. The opponent's battery, which began to analyze Ahn Hyun-min in June, began to lose its timing with a slow breaking ball. Ahn Hyun-min continued to be struck out by slow breaking balls, so he kept paying attention to it, but began to lose his strength as he couldn't cope with the fast ball. It was a trial and error that young players who lacked experience experienced as usual.
Kim Jae-ho, a SPOTV baseball commentator, told Ahn Hyun-min, who consulted with him about the issue, `It's not easy for a pitcher to control a slow breaking ball anyway, so why are you shaking because of that one thing. There are no cases where two strikes come in consecutively due to a slow breaking ball. We have to think about whether he is a pitcher who can throw more than twice on the same course with a slow breaking ball like Ryu Hyun-jin. Few pitchers in Korea can throw like that like Ryu Hyun-jin, he advised.
Ahn Hyun-min is challenging the rookie's batting average of the late senior Jang Hyo-jo, who was known as a master of batting. Jang Hyo-jo made his KBO League debut in 1983 wearing a Samsung uniform and recorded a batting average of 0.369 (117 hits in 317).
Attention is focusing on whether Ahn Hyun-min, who is spending the same season as a monster, will be able to write a new history as a KBO rookie for the first time in 42 years.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
