Most batters move their emotional lines along with changes in hitting indicators. When hitting metrics peak, they often follow emotionally. There is a lot of power in media interviews.
KIA Choi Hyeong-woo has a slightly different personality. From the outside, it seems that the feeling of hitting is quite hot, but it reacts insignificantly. Usually, on a sunny day, it shows a calm appearance like a flowing river.
Considering this, the expression Choi Hyung-woo sneaked out during this season could be interpreted as quite meaningful. While talking to a reporter at the stadium, Choi Hyung-woo said, “It’s just okay. It’s not bad,” he said. If it is expressed to that extent in Choi Hyung-woo’s speech, it is a sign that it is “pretty good.”
Choi Hyeong-woo is proving it through his actions and sexually. Choi Hyeong-woo was born in December 1983 and is passing the age of 40. However, entering this season, various batting indicators are being raised to the level of 5-6 years ago.
As of the 3rd, Choi Hyung-woo has a batting average of 0.333 (28 hits in 84 at-bats), 3 home runs and 16 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.968, along with Alford (KT) with 1.204 and Kim Hyun-soo (LG) with 0.968, in the top 3 of the league. He ranks 5th with a slugging percentage of 0.512, and his key hitting indicators are heading towards the top ranks.
Turning the clock back, he is looking for a place close to the 2017 season when he led the team to a combined victory in the KIA uniform. Choi Hyung-woo finished the season in fourth place in the league with an OPS of 1.026 that year. Although there are overall changes in the OPS numbers compared to when the wind of riding two players was blowing, Hyungwoo Choi’s position in the OPS leaderboard is as solid as it was then.
Choi Hyung-woo also has a history of rebounding to OPS 1.023 in the 2020 season after recording OPS 0.963 in the 2018 season and 0.898 in the 2019 season. In terms of OPS in the 2020 season, it was second in the league.
Choi Hyeong-woo is also reviving his unique decision-making power. On the 3rd, against Lotte in Gwangju, Lotte starter Na Kyun-an kicked off a forkball thrown by Lotte starter Na Kyun-an at the bottom of the 3rd inning, which was 1-0, and connected it with a timely hit with 2 RBIs, bringing victory to the team. On this day, he was also the most impressive hit to stop Lotte’s 10-game winning streak.
Choi Hyeong-woo had a rough 2022 season. Last year, he finished the season with a batting average of 0.264 OPS and 0.787, but until May, the beginning of the season, he batted as if he was a completely different player with a batting average of 0.224 OPS and 0.688. Choi Hyeong-woo also said at the time, “I don’t think I am me.”
The 2023 season, which started with a different expression, is showing different results. Choi Hyeong-woo is looking up high again.