Lee Dae-ho (23), the Lotte Giants’ team leader in home runs last year, retired. Jeon Jun-woo (37, Lotte), who took over Lotte’s oldest baton, set the goal of recovering his long hitting power.
Jeon Jun-woo has achieved a batting average of 30% for the last two years in a row. In 2021, he achieved his second personal highest number of hits (192) and ranked second in batting average (0.348). He posted a batting average of 0.304 last year.
But there was a lot of regret in his heart. It’s because his slugging power has decreased. Jeon Jun-woo hit more than 20 homers in each season from 2018 to 2020. During this period he hit a total of 81 home runs. However, he only hit 7 homers in 2021 and 11 in 2022. He averaged 27 home runs per year between 2018 and 2020, a 66.6% drop to 9 home runs in the last two years. He said, “It’s a pity that I recorded more than 20 homers for a while, and then suddenly decreased.”
Jeon Jun-woo, in his 16th year as a pro, is an outfielder with both accuracy and slugging power with a career batting average of 0.299, 180 home runs and 812 RBIs.
Jeon Jun-woo said, “Last year, I recorded double-digit home runs, but when I focused on accuracy, the number of home runs decreased a lot compared to before.”
There is also the influence of his environment. Sajik Stadium, which was a hitter-friendly stadium, raised the outfield fence from 4.8m to 6m, and the distance from the home plate to the outfield fence was also increased.
He said, “I feel the expansion of the field. A ball that would have crossed the fence before hits the fence and bounces off.” Jeon Jun-woo, conscious of the changed environment, analyzed, “As the Sajik Stadium widened, I tried to hit more accurately than hit hard.
Jeon Jun-woo declared, “I want to hit more long hits this season.” Try changing for this. He said, “I wonder if the number of long hits will increase if I try to be more aggressive this year.” 메이저놀이터
Lotte, where Lee Dae-ho left, also expects an increase in Jeon Jun-woo’s home runs. If Jack Rex-Han Dong-hee and Jeon Jun-woo, who form the center batting line, hit more home runs, the power of the batting line can increase. With Lee Dae-ho’s retirement, the proportion of designated hitters has increased, creating an environment where he can focus more on batting.