KIA 22-year-old Australian student struggles
3G hitting streak.
KIA sent five players (pitchers Kwak Do-gyu, Kim Ki-hoon, Kim Hyun-soo, Hong Won-bin, and infielder Park Min) to the Canberra Cavaliers of the Australian Professional Baseball League. The lone outfielder, Park Min (22), stands out. In 48 games for the Commerce this year, he batted .305 with 43 hits in 141 at-bats, one home run, 23 RBIs, 23 runs scored, and a .760 OPS.
He hit with power from his Yatapgo days and was expected to develop into an offensive shortstop, but he didn’t take off that quickly after being drafted with the sixth overall pick in the 2020 second round. Still, KIA was quick to send him to the army, and upon his discharge, they sent him to Australia to showcase his potential.
In Australia, he struggled a bit. Through 18 games against the Adelaide Giants on the 16th, he’s batting .232 with 12 doubles, one home run, three RBI, eight runs scored, and a .540 OPS. He struggles to manage his walks, with four to 15, but half of his 12 hits are for extra bases. Five doubles and one home run.
After struggling in the first inning, he has rebounded nicely with back-to-back hits in his last three games. Against Adelaide on May 15, he had two hits, both doubles. Trailing 2-5 in the bottom of the third inning, he singled up the middle with the bases loaded. He moved to third on Corey Acton’s single to right. However, he was thrown out at home on Junpei Azuma’s grounder to third.
Canberra will continue to use Park Min at shortstop to gain experience. His defense has been solid, with only two errors in 70 innings. The most important thing for Park is to get a lot of reps, so it’s important for him to be consistent and improve his game.
The KIA infield is pretty solid. There are concerns at first base, but if they retain free agent Kim Sun-bin, the outfield of Kim Do-young at third base, Park 메이저사이트 Chan-ho at shortstop, and Kim Sun-bin at second base makes sense. However, they can’t be good for all 144 games. KIA has been plagued by injury issues this year.
Furthermore, they need to continue to look for younger blood as a future alternative to Kim Sun-bin and to bolster their infield depth. They have a good all-weather backup in Kim Kyu-sung, but they need competition. Park Min-soo struggles in Australia.
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