“He definitely needs an adjustment period. Since he is a talented player, the question is when he can show it.”
NC Dinos coach Kang In-kwon said that with the opening of the regular season imminent in March, despite the poor performance of foreign hitter Jason Martin, He gave me firm trust. Even before the start of the regular season, it was difficult to express disappointment in foreign players, but there was an underlying belief that Martin would definitely do his part.
Martin’s performance in the exhibition game was disastrous. He had just 3 hits in 25 at-bats and a batting average of 0.120 in 9 games. His only extra-base hits were one double, and he showed weakness in both pitching and contact.토스카지노
NC fans were embarrassed by the poor performance of the foreign hitter brought in with high expectations. The disappointment was even greater because Martin was hired after giving up on renewing his contract with Nick Martini, who had decent results last year with a batting average of 0.296, 16 home runs, 85 RBI, and 12 stolen bases in 139 games.
However, coach Kang In-kwon emphasized several times that Martin needed an ‘adaptation period’. As Martin has experience hitting 32 home runs in the minor league Triple A in the 2022 season, it was judged that he has the ability to succeed in the KBO league as well.
At the end of the exhibition game, he said, “I have given trust that I am willing to wait longer,” and took care to help Martin improve his batting skills with ease.
However, Martin’s batting skills did not come back to life. To make matters worse, right after the opening of the regular season, he suffered an injury and was absent for over a month. He did not play his part until May, with a batting average of 0.237 (18 hits in 76 at-bats), 2 home runs, 9 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.709 in 22 games until May.
The twist began in June. He rebounded with a batting average of 0.304 (28 hits in 92 at-bats), 3 home runs, 15 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.857 in 23 games, and in July, he hit hard with a batting average of 0.359 (23 hits in 64 at-bats), 5 home runs, 20 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.049 in 17 games. In August, he showed his adaptation to the KBO League by playing in 21 games with a batting average of 0.300 (24 hits in 80 at-bats), 4 home runs, 23 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.872.
Although it was disappointing that his batting average of 0.244 (30 hits in 123 at-bats), 3 home runs, 23 RBIs, and OPS of 0.692 in 35 games since September were disappointing, his season performance with a batting average of 0.283 (123 hits in 435 at-bats), 17 home runs, 90 RBIs, 15 stolen bases, and OPS of 0.815 could be considered a good enough score. there was.
NC was not initially classified as a candidate for the top 5 before the start of this season, and Martin’s role as a ‘one-man’ was in large part responsible for being able to advance to the postseason in 4th place in the regular league.
Martin is also showing strength in fall baseball. He raised concerns by going 0-for-4 and silent in the first game of the wild card game against the Doosan Bears, but rebounded with 4 hits in 12 at-bats, 1 home run, 5 RBIs, and 2 stolen bases in the 3 semi-playoff games.
In particular, in Game 3 of the semi-playoffs held at Changwon NC Park on the 26th, he dominated the game with 2 hits in 4 at-bats, 1 home run, 3 RBI, 1 stolen base, and 2 runs. He was selected as Daily MVP by hitting a 3-run home run in the bottom of the second inning when NC was down 4-5. NC settled into the playoffs with three consecutive wins in the series amid Martin’s hard hitting.
Immediately after Game 3 of the semi-playoffs, Martin said, “With runners on base in the bottom of the second inning, the ball came in at the type and location I wanted and I took a good swing, which led to a good result.”
He also said, “There are good times and bad times during a season in baseball, but fortunately, I am very happy that I was able to show good performance in the postseason.” He added, “There was definitely an adjustment period in the beginning after the start. My teammates and coaching staff helped me a lot. “We were able to get this result because we gave it,” he explained.
Now, Martin and NC’s attention is turned to advancing to the Korean Series for the third time since its founding. NC entered the Korean Series for the first time in the club’s history in the 2016 season, but had to be satisfied with second place after losing four straight games to Doosan, which was ranked first in the regular league at the time.
Four years were enough for NC to resolve the disappointment of finishing second in 2016. They went straight to the Korean Series by taking first place in the 2020 season’s regular league, and made history by defeating Doosan with 4 wins and 2 losses. This year, for the first time in three years, we are targeting the Korean Series stage once again.
In order for NC to advance to the highest stage of the fall, they must overcome KT Wiz, second place in the regular league, in the playoffs (3 wins out of 5). NC is disadvantaged by the fact that they were inferior this season with a record of 6 wins and 10 losses, and that KT has a lot of physical strength after resting for nearly 3 weeks.
In order for NC to easily make the playoffs, the batting line must eventually attack the KT mound. In the case of Martin, he was strong with a batting average of 0.319 (15 hits in 47 at-bats), 1 home run, and 9 RBIs in 13 games against KT in the regular league. He recorded 3 hits in 7 at bats against KT ace Wes Benjamin and 3 hits in 9 against local ace Ko Young-pyo.
Martin praised his teammates, saying, “The performance of the batters who played in NC’s 1st to 3rd batting order throughout this season was very good,” and “Thanks to them always getting on base, I was able to record a lot of RBIs.”
He then expressed his candidacy, saying, “It’s a really big challenge to advance to the Korean Series. It would be great if we could win, and all NC players are playing with the mindset that they can win.”Meanwhile, NC will clash with KT in the playoffs starting on the 30th for a ticket to advance to the Korean Series. The first and second games will be held at KT’s home stadium, Suwon KT Wiz Park. The 3rd and 4th games will be held at Changwon NC Park, and if the game continues to the 5th game, the team will return to Suwon for the final battle.