San Diego Padres Kim Ha-seong (28메이저사이트) faces the Boston Red Sox for the first time since his major league debut. It is the first confrontation with Boston, which has been repeatedly mentioned as a team with potential for trade last winter, and attracts more attention.
San Diego will have a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox at their home stadium, Petco Park, starting on the 20th (Korean time). It is the first time in four years since August 24-26, 2019, that two teams from different leagues face each other, and the eyes are on San Diego Xander Bogatz.
Giant shortstop Bogarts, who has been active in Boston for 10 years since 2013 and was loved as a franchise star, signed an 11-year, $280 million contract with San Diego in December of last year and transferred as a free agent. Attention is focused on Bogatz as it is his first match against his former team.
Bogarts’ trip to San Diego was an unexpected surprise. San Diego had two shortstop resources, including Fernando Tatis Jr., the 2021 National League home run king (42), and Kim Ha-seong, who was a finalist for the Gold Glove last year. However, after spending a large amount of money to recruit Bogatz to reinforce the batting line, Ha-seong Kim moved to second base and Tatis moved to right field.
Boston, which lost Bogarts, also fell on fire. Even second baseman Trevor Story, who had experience as a shortstop, underwent elbow surgery and entered rehabilitation for six months, raising the need for a trade. Boston local media poured out the argument that Kim Ha-seong should be recruited, and mentioned pitchers Cress Sale and Tanner Ha-wook as counter-payment cards.
[OSEN=Reporter Hyungjun Ji] Prior to the game, Ha-seong Kim and Bogatz of San Diego hold hands after playing catch. 2023.02.25 /jpnews@osen.co.kr
But the trade never happened. San Diego opened up the possibility of trading Kim Ha-sung, but Boston did not make any concrete moves. After selecting the existing infield utility Kike Hernandez as the new starting shortstop, it ended by recruiting backup players such as Adelberto Mondesi through a trade and Jang Wi-cheong through an FA contract to reinforce the depth of the shortstop. Some pointed out that there was no clear reinforcement for Hernandez, who had no experience as a full-time shortstop and had been a center fielder for the past two years.
Concerns became reality. Hernandez is the most disgraced player in the league this year with 9 errors in 243 innings in 30 games (27 starts) at shortstop. The defensive indicator ‘OAA (Out Above Average)’, which shows how many outs were handled compared to the average, was also -6, the lowest among the 96 players who saw a shortstop. The ‘UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating)’, which shows how wide the range of runs prevented by dividing each ball into several zones and giving weight to each ball, is also -2.6, which is not good enough to be ranked 77th.
He is stable with no runs as a second baseman (44 innings) and center fielder (48 innings), but is uneasy as a shortstop to the level of a defensive hole. With a batting average of .241 in 39 games this year (35 hits in 145 at-bats), 3 homers, 16 RBIs, and an OPS of .647, his batting performance was not outstanding, which caused Boston to worry.
[Photo] Cique Ernanims ⓒGettyimages (Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited)
Mondesi, who has been recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee since the trade, has not yet been able to play in practice, and Taiwanese infielder Chang Yu-cheong shows decisiveness with 3 home runs and 8 RBIs, even if it is low, with a batting average of 10.3 0.6 (6 hits in 44 at-bats) in 17 games. With no errors in 91 innings, the shortstop defense was stable. However, on the 25th of last month, he suffered a broken haematopolus in his left hand against the Baltimore Orioles, so he underwent surgery and was diagnosed with six weeks of rehabilitation.
Boston has 30 team errors, second only to the Los Angeles Angels (31) out of 30 teams. 10 of those came from shortstop. He has a record of 24 wins and 20 losses and a win rate of 50 405 with the power of strong batting line, but he is in the last place in the 5th place because he belongs to the American League Eastern Division of the ‘Group of Death’.