Samsung Lions’ veteran catcher Kang Min-ho, 38, has been performing remarkably well in the heat. Catchers in professional baseball dread the summer because they have to constantly sit down and stand up in 30-degree heat while wearing heavy catcher’s gear. This can be very physically demanding, which is why catchers tend to perform worse in July and August than other positions.
Kang Min-ho, who made his professional baseball debut in 2004, also dreads the summer. He’s been wearing a catcher’s mask for 21 years now, but he’s still not used to battling the heat for more than three hours every day. Kang Min-ho doesn’t hide his physical limitations or his struggles as a catcher. “I feel that my retirement is just around the corner,” he said through thick beads of sweat after a home game against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Thursday.
Kang Min-ho dreads summer, but he doesn’t avoid it. As the weather heats up, he intensifies his physical training and self-care. As a result, unlike other catchers, his batting performance doesn’t drop significantly in the summer. In the last 10 years, from 2014 to this year, he has a career batting average of .280, with a .285 batting average in July and a .282 batting average in August. Even last year, his July-August batting average (0.278) was not significantly different from his season average (0.290).
As his team has battled for the top of the standings this season, Kang has been even more impressive. In eight games since July, he’s batting .500 with 28 hits, 14 doubles, four home runs, and 12 RBIs. He ranks first in batting average and first in home runs among hitters with at least 30 at-bats in that span. It’s hard to imagine a more impressive summer performance from a catcher who is on the verge of a breakout.
Against Doosan on Thursday, Kang went 2-for-4 with two doubles, one walk, three RBIs, and one run scored, including the game-winning home run. In the top of the seventh inning, down 1-2 and with runners on first and second, Kang hit the game-winning 카지노사이트 추천 three-run home run over the left field wall off Doosan’s Lee Young-ha. After the Doosan battery sent Koo into an automatic high four-pitch at-bat, they opted to face Kang Min-ho, who responded to the call by taking advantage of Young-ha’s first pitch for the decisive “one-out” hit.
Samsung went on to defeat Doosan 6-2, thanks to Kang’s home run, to retain sole possession of second place. After the game, Kang Min-ho, who was named the Suhoon Player of the Game, did not attach any significance to the selection, saying, “I think (my batting performance) is coming out now because I didn’t perform well in the first half.” He reflected on the fact that the Doosan bats skipped the zone and faced him, saying, “Of course, I thought they would do that.” “But I was thinking a lot about what to do in the batting order, and I swung confidently because I’ve been feeling good lately,” he said.
Kang Min-ho’s home run was reminiscent of Choi Hyung-woo (40) of the KIA Tigers, who hit a walk-off home run on Sept. 9. Choi hit a walk-off home run against the LG Twins, who had just beaten him on a high four-pitch count. Neighboring clubs LG and Doosan, which share Jamsil Stadium as their home, chose to face an older player in a game five days apart and both suffered heartbreaking defeats.
“(Choi’s) home run really touched me,” said Kang Min-ho, adding, “I often talked to him about working hard for a long time, even if I get older, and I’ll do my best to keep my promise.”