The most promising hitter, Bae Ji-hwan, who is less than 10% in Pittsburgh, is all that's useful

Sep 12, 2025

Bae Ji-hwan cheers after hitting a finishing three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning against Kyungpook High School at the 72nd Blue Dragon High School Baseball Championship in 2017, when he was a third grader at Gyeongbuk High School. Sports Chosun DB

One of Korea's top prospects who chose to go to the U.S. at a young age dreaming of an "American dream" has become a major league agent.

If there is no breakthrough in the career, there is even a concern that the career will end as it is. Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Bae Ji-hwan (26) is the main character. Now, the Pittsburgh club no longer seems to expect Bae Ji-hwan's hit.

This is the disastrous reality of Bae Ji-hwan, who has been the team's main striker since his freshman year when he was a student at Kyungpook National High School and was evaluated as a leading contender for Korean baseball in 2017 with the 'Lee Young-min batting award'.

Bae Ji-hwan was excluded from the away game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland on the morning of the 12th (Korea time), but was put in as a pinch runner for second baseman Andrew McCutchen with two outs and runners on first and second bases in the top of the eighth inning when his team was trailing 2-3.

Going out as a tie-breaker with a one-point deficit is evidence that it is expected to some extent as a `agent against a runner.' Certainly, Bae's main focus is also competitive in the Major League. However, there is a precondition that the team's batting lineup must first explode in order for Bae Ji-hwan's 'running ability' to shine. If this is not met, it has no utility value. On this day, the follow-up hitter Spencer Horowitz struck out, and Bae Ji-hwan did not perform well as a pinch runner. Because McCutchen was the designated hitter, Bae Ji-hwan could not even appear in the defensive inning.

This is a scene that clearly shows the level of Bae Ji-hwan's current position in the team. Bae Ji-hwan, who is already in his fourth year in the Major League, played quite well in the spring camp in March and enjoyed the joy of boarding the opening entry.

The Pittsburgh Pirates' badges are still showing serious weakness in terms of hitting. In his second start game after the call-up on the 8th, he had no hits in 2 at-bats and only 2 walks. Still, the season's batting average is not up to 10%.

In 20 spring camp games, he marked a batting average of 0.381 (16 hits in 42 at-bats), one home run, four RBIs, 13 runs, three walks, three steals, and an OPS of 1.017 and proudly ranked first in the team's batting average, hits and scoring position on the opening roster. However, he was demoted to Triple-A in the minor league just two games after the opening. He struck out three times against Miami on March 30, his first start, and went 0-for-4 against Miami the next day, and after a chaotic base play, he ran to base and fell out of Pittsburgh coach Derek Shelton's eyes.

Through this, Bae Ji-hwan was labeled as being unable to hit the level of the major leagues. This label was completely cemented in the second big league opportunity. Bae Ji-hwan, who had been doing quite well in Triple-A, got a chance again on May 10 when he was called up to the big leagues, but he was also notified of his trip to the minor leagues again, batting only 0.143 (1 hit in 7 at-bats) in 5 games.

With this, the Pittsburgh leadership's evaluation of Bae Ji-hwan is virtually over. In other words, he caused himself a bad evaluation as a player who is fast in feet, has multi-defensive ability, but cannot hit.

Since then, Bae Ji-hwan has been called up to the big leagues again during the expansion entry period in September, when the possibility of Pittsburgh's autumn party has completely disappeared. However, the problem of hitting is still not improving. He gave him a chance to start against Baltimore on the 11th, but he had no hits in two at-bats, walking two and stealing two bases. In other words, he showed again that he has no other use than running base.

Now, the Pittsburgh club seems to regard Bae Ji-hwan only as a completely 'opposable agent'. This is because he has not shown competitiveness against big league pitchers. As of this year, Bae Ji-hwan's big league batting average is less than 10%. He is only 0.067 (1 for 15). Such a performance could seriously threaten Bae Ji-hwan's major league career. This is because there is not much reason for Pittsburgh to continue taking Bae Ji-hwan.

Bae Ji-hwan signed an annual contract with Pittsburgh for $800,000 (about 1.1 billion won) in early March. However, this amount is the amount that you receive if you play full-time in the Major League this year. Due to the short period of stay in the big leagues this year, it is highly likely that they will actually receive less than half. In fact, Bae Ji-hwan signed a contract for $725,000 (about 1 billion won) last year, but he reportedly received only $345,015 (about 480 million won) because he played only 29 games in the big league.

This season is worse than last year. So far, Bae has only played 11 big league games. Even if he starts all the rest of the season, he has no choice but to play fewer games than last year. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the annual salary for real-time receipts will only be around $300,000, similar to last year.

More serious than this, there is a possibility that Pittsburgh may not sign Bae Ji-hwan next season. Bae Ji-hwan has yet to meet his three-year service time in the Major League. As a result, I have not yet qualified to apply for an annual salary adjustment. If Pittsburgh announces the release, it should go out as it is. We are concerned about whether Bae Ji-hwan will be able to continue to survive on the major league stage.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.