It’s been a brutal week for KIA first baseman Hwang Dae-in (27).
Hwang was removed from the first team roster on the 29th. On the same day, the team dropped five players – pitchers Sean Anderson, Jung Hae-young, Kim Dae-yu, and infielder Yoon Do-hyun – from the first team at once.
Hwang Dae-in’s first first-team exclusion of the season. It is the first time under Kim Jong-kook, who took over as manager last year, that Hwang has been sent to the second team for poor performance, although he was placed on the injured list for 10 days after suffering a slight right thigh muscle strain in a collision with a runner against Gwangju Kiwoom on 14 September last year.
Hwang Dae-in, a former Gyeonggi State University standout who was drafted by KIA in the second round of the 2015 draft with the second overall pick, has been in the first team since 2020 and made the leap to full-time first base last year. He was pushed to bat fourth by incoming manager Kim Jong-kook, and it paid off, as he batted 25-for-56 (122-for-476) with 14 home runs, 91 RBIs and a .716 OPS in 129 games. He lacked consistency, but he was decisive in the middle of the order with 91 RBI.
This year, he was used primarily in the fourth or fifth spot in the batting order, but didn’t quite live up to expectations. In 36 games, he batted just 2-for-25 (118 at-bats) with three home runs, 18 RBI and a .583 OPS. His struggles deepened in May, when he went 2-for-15 (9-for-45) with one home run, five RBIs and a .501 OPS. He struck out a whopping 16 times while drawing two walks.
Psychologically, he was being chased. In his second at-bat of the fourth inning against Daejeon Hanwha on the 23rd, he complained about an umpire’s call after Ricardo Sanchez struck out on a ball deep in his body. Hwang Dae-in, who had left his bat down in the dugout, refused to comply with umpire Lee Young-jae’s three requests to “take the bat” and was eventually ordered to leave the game.먹튀검증
“He thought it was a ball, but the umpire called it a strike,” Kim Jong-kook said the next day. In the game, players are always sensitive to each ball. Dae-in did it to protest,” he said, adding, “I think he’s frustrated because he wants to hit well but can’t. Not only Dae-in, but all players feel the same way. Baseball is a mental sport, and if you say something there, it will make the player shrink even more,” Hwang Dae-in said.
However, there was no rebound afterwards. After missing the game against Hanwha on the 24th, Hwang Dae-in came to bat in the ninth inning against Hanwha on the 25th, trailing 3-4, but struck out swinging on a forked ball by Park Sang-won. After missing the Gwangju LG game on the 26th, he returned to the lineup for the 27th and 28th, but was silent for the second straight day, going 0-for-4. Eventually, he was sent to the second team and will go through an adjustment period for a while. It was a good decision by manager Kim Jong-kook, who has believed in and supported Hwang Dae-in all this time.
With centre fielder Na Sung-bum out of action since the start of the season with a calf muscle injury, Hwang Dae-in’s slump and the void in the middle of the order will be felt. New signing Byun Woo-hyuk has hit four nutritious home runs in 32 games, but his overall batting production has been lacklustre, with a .583 OPS (17-for-91). Hopefully Byun Woo-hyuk will develop with more opportunities, but if not, Hwang Dae-in will eventually have to step up.