“I go to the plate every game worried.”
Choi Ji-hoon (SSG Landers) batted second in the lineup against the NC Dinos of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League on April 24 at SSG Landers Field in Incheon, South Korea, going 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and one run scored.
Choi was on fire from his first at-bat. Trailing 0-2 in the bottom of the first inning, he sent a line drive to right-center field with the bases loaded. Shin-Soo Choo came home from first base. Choi Ji-hoon moved to third. Choi then scored on a wild pitch by Lee Jae-hak to tie the game. SSG then took the lead with back-to-back home runs by Choi Jung and Choi Ju-hwan.
In the bottom of the second inning with the score 4-2, Choi Ji-hoon stepped to the plate for the second time with runners on first and second with no outs and hit a line drive to right field. Second baseman Kim Sung-hyun came home on the play. Choi Ji-hoon followed with an RBI single to put SSG on the board.
Choi flied out to right field in his third at-bat in the bottom of the fourth inning, but came through with a hit in his fourth at-bat in the top of the seventh to complete his three-hit game. He was replaced by Kim Kang-min in the top of the eighth inning with a 7-3 lead. NC responded with a one-run home run by Kim Hyung-jun, but the game ended with a 7-4 SSG victory.
Last season, Choi led SSG to a wire-to-wire victory, hitting .304 with 10 home runs, 61 RBIs, 93 runs scored and a .788 OPS in 173 games across all competitions. However, he has struggled this season, hitting .257 with two home runs, 28 RBIs, 50 runs scored and a .653 OPS in 92 games.
Choi said, “I’ve been struggling at the plate a lot this season, so I go into every game worried. I’m happy and fortunate to have three hits and two RBIs today,” Choi said. “Comparing my batting video to the good times I had last year, I realized there was something missing in my batting form, so I corrected it and got good results.”
The last time SSG scored more than seven runs was on May 5 against the Busan Lotte Giants. They won 9-6. It was their first multi-run win in a long time. ”Our hitters haven’t been hitting well lately, so I thought we should have at least one high-scoring game like today,” said Choi Ji-hoon. “I think our well-rested preparation after two games were rained out led to a lot of runs.메이저사이트
SSG is in third place with 57 wins, one draw and 46 losses. They are 0.5 games behind second-place KT Wiz (59 wins, 2 draws, 47 losses). Choi Ji-hoon is determined to shake off this season’s slump and do his best for the rest of the season. ”I want to make up for what I didn’t do this year in the remaining games,” he said, “and try to help the team win as many games as possible.