The Hanwha Eagles, who finished last in the KBO for three consecutive years until last year, sacked Subero on 11 May and appointed Choi Won-ho as head coach. Hanwha, which had signed Subero to a three-year contract with the aim of rebuilding the team, made the decision to change the manager at the beginning of the season in order to improve its performance this season.
Since Choi’s appointment, Hanwha has won five games, drawn two and lost seven, with a winning percentage of 0.417, good for seventh place in the league. As of the 27th, Hanwha is tied for ninth place with KT Wiz with a winning percentage of 0.381. It’s hard to argue that Hanwha’s performance has improved since Choi took over, and in fact, the team’s upward trajectory has stalled.
Some are concerned that Hanwha’s young players, who had been following Subero, have fallen into a slump since the managerial change. The sudden parting of ways with Subero, with whom they had worked well together since their 21st season, seems to have taken its toll.스포츠토토
A prime example is Noh Si-hwan, the franchise’s No. 4 hitter. This season, Noh is batting .277 with nine home runs, 23 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.872. With double-digit home runs and an OPS well over 0.8, the numbers look good. However, his batting pace has been extremely poor since the managerial change.
Noh’s 43-game hitting drought began with a fly to right field in the top of the seventh inning against the Literature SSG Landers on 13 May. He ended the drought on the 24th with a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the ninth inning against the KIA Tigers in Daejeon, ending his hitting streak after 44 at-bats. Given his name recognition, there were high hopes that the home run would signal a rebound in his batting pace.
However, he hasn’t hit since, going 0-for-5 in his last two games. His season batting average was as high as 0.359 before the streak, but has since dropped to 0.277. The ups and downs of his form have been significant.
Noh Si-hwan, who made his professional debut with Hanwha in 2019, had a career-high batting average of 0.281 last year. However, his six home runs did not meet expectations at all. The right-handed slugger, who hit double-digit home runs for two consecutive years with 12 in 2020 and 18 in 2021, has disappeared, raising concerns.
This season, the Hanwha bats are seventh in the league with 23 home runs, but are dead last in all of the team hitting metrics except home runs, with a .220 batting average, .614 OPS, and 3.49 runs per game. Hanwha’s bullpen is considered to be somewhat competitive, but the low scoring power of the offence has kept them in the bottom half of the table.
In particular, the team has been criticised for having few reliable hitters aside from Noh Si-hwan and Chae Eun-sung, who signed a six-year, 9 billion won free agent deal last winter. Worse still, it has been suggested that Noh and Chae are overly conscious of the weaknesses of their batting line-up and are trying to do too well, putting them under great psychological pressure.
Now in his fifth season as a professional, Noh’s steady and consistent performance is closely linked to Hanwha’s chances of breaking through. It will be interesting to see if Noh, who has been described as the ‘successor to Kim Tae-gyun’, can explode with home runs and help Hanwha escape the bottom half of the table.