The two batters who were the pride of Busan baseball in high school were not unfamiliar with the title of ‘next-generation geopo’ when they made 메이저놀이터 their professional debut. However, after their professional debut, the two’s activities are gradually unfolding. This is the story of Han Dong-hee (24, Lotte Giants) and Roh Si-hwan (23, Hanwha Eagles), who are senior and junior at Gyeongnam High School.
Han Dong-hee, who joined Lotte with the first nomination for the 2018 Rookie Drafts. Included in the opening roster in the first year of his debut, he excited home fans by reporting a double against SK foreign pitcher Meryl Kelly in the first at-bat of the opening game. The next day, he also made a hit against Kim Gwang-hyun, the ‘national left-hander ace’. Everyone was enthusiastic about the ‘big newcomer’ and expected to walk the path of ‘post Lee Dae-ho’ soon. However, Han Dong-hee soon suffered from sluggishness in both offense and defense, and in the first year of his debut, he recorded a batting average of 2.3, 2.3, 4 homers and 25 RBIs in 87 games.
Over the next few years, Lotte worked hard for Han Dong-hee’s growth. Last year, when Han Dong-hee recorded 110 hits and double-digit home runs for three consecutive years, including a batting average of 30% (37%) and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of more than 80% (0.817) for the first time in his debut, the evaluation was finally ‘breaking the egg’. continued However, Han Dong-hee, who has reached the end of the first half, is staying in the low 20% batting average and has only 3 home runs.
Noh Si-hwan, who was nominated by Hanwha in the second round of the 2019 rookie draft, started slower than Han Dong-hee. In his first year of debut, in 91 games, his batting average was only 1.8 6 Lee (33 hits in 177 at-bats), 1 home run and 13 RBIs. The following year, he played in 106 games and hit double-digit home runs (12), but his batting average was still only in the low 20/20. Last year, he recorded a batting average of .281 (122 hits in 434 at-bats) in 115 games, but had only 6 homers.
This season, Noh Si-hwan is having a ‘career high’ season with a batting average of 3.17 (98 hits in 309 at-bats), 19 homers, 57 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.958 in 78 games until the 13th. In the home run category, he is tied for first place with Choi Jeong (SSG), and most indicators such as RBI (tied for second place), OPS (second place), and WAR (contribution to victory over substitute players) third place (3.85 based on Sports 2I) is running at the top of the It is evaluated that the effort to lose weight for a simple swing and defense during the off-season was the basis for good results. On the other hand, Han Dong-hee has not been able to find a breakthrough, not only sluggish batting but also making mistakes in defense.
The two players used to be compared on the professional stage following their high school days. Innate physique conditions, the same third baseman position, and benefiting from the club’s training as a future resource to be responsible for the team-centered batting line, or being born with the qualities to become a giant, but clunky defense and pioneering vision, and even the weakness, which increases every year after debuting as a professional, even resemble weaknesses. did. If the two players grow side by side, there was also a desire that they would walk the same path as Kim Tae-gyun and Lee Dae-ho, who were ’82-year-olds of the same age’ who were the franchise stars of their team. However, looking at the results so far this season, it is inevitable to see that the gap between Han Dong-hee and Roh Si-hwan is getting wider and wider.
