Choi Hyung-woo (39, KIA Tigers), who set a new record for the most RBIs in professional baseball, is a KBO league representative hitter who overcame adversity with Jang Jong-hoon, the ‘trainee myth’, Hangzhou Asian Games baseball team batting coach.
Choi Hyung-woo hit Han Seung-joo in the second at-bat with one out and first base in the 4th inning when he was trailing 0-1 in an away game against the Hanwha Eagles held at Daejeon Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park on the 20th. He scored his 500th RBI.메이저사이트
With this, Choi Hyung-woo opened the era of 1,500 RBIs for the first time in his 41 years as a pro, pushing Doosan Bears coach Lee Seung-yeop (1,498 RBIs) to second place and rising to first place in this category.
2023 KBO League Kia vs. Hanwha match held at Daejeon Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park on the afternoon of the 20th. KIA hitter Hyung-Woo Choi hit a home run with one out and first base in the top of the 4th inning and is advancing.
Like coach Jang Jong-hoon, who entered the professional league as a trainee after failing to be nominated by the club and became a leading home run king, Choi Hyung-woo overcame the sadness and resentment of being released from his club, the Samsung Lions, with a bat after enlisting in 2006.
Choi Hyung-woo, who served in the now-defunct police baseball team, conquered the Futures (2nd Division) league, and after being discharged in 2008 and wearing the Samsung uniform again, has grown into a KBO league signboard with both sophistication and power.
Choi Hyung-woo, who debuted at Samsung in 2002 and failed to score a single run in 6 games before enlisting, including 4 games that year and 2 games in 2004. Beyond the manager, he became the new owner of the career RBI title.
Choi Hyung-woo, who was recognized for his batting talent early on, was unable to settle down as a catcher, but after being discharged from the army, he changed his defensive position to an outfielder and showed off his spirited batting after becoming a starting pitcher.
After harvesting 118 RBIs in 2011 and recording triple-digit RBIs in a season for the first time, Hyung-Woo Choi collected more than 100 RBIs in seven seasons until 2020.
Since 2008, the annual average RBI for 16 seasons is 93.5, so the title ‘solver’ is not awkward at all.
As evidenced by his career batting average of 0.312 and 365 home runs, Choi Hyeong-woo is one of the few top-class hitters who has both accuracy and power.
Choi Hyeong-woo, who began to make a name for himself at the age of 25, became the 17th player in history to record 2,000 games in a match against the NC Dinos on the 16th, and was also soaked in special emotions. Although his start was late, he is very proud of what he achieved because he was more persistent than anyone else.
Choi Hyeong-woo in the days when he was active as a Samsung main gun
[Yonhap News data photo]
Choi Hyung-woo’s record can be divided into Samsung and KIA days.
Choi Hyung-woo laid the foundation for success by enjoying the glory of the regular league and the Korean Series for four consecutive years from 2011 to 2014 at Samsung, a mixture of love and hate.
During the nine years from 2008 to 2016, when he was at Samsung, Choi Hyung-woo accumulated 911 RBIs. He averaged 101 RBIs per year.
In particular, he left more than 100 RBIs in three seasons from 2014 to 2016, establishing himself as the largest free agent (FA) word.
Choi Hyung-woo, who still shows off his solver instinct at KIA
[Yonhap News data]
As a result, Hyung-Woo Choi opened the era of 10 billion won for the first time as a free agent by signing a 4-year 10 billion won contract with KIA, which is based in Gwangju, which is close to his hometown Jeonju in 2017.
In 2017, the first year of the transfer, Hyung-Woo Choi had a batting average of 0.342, 26 home runs and 120 RBIs, and wore the 5th championship ring as the new 4th hitter of the Tiger Corps. He also scored 100 RBIs for 5 consecutive seasons from the 2014 season to the 2018 season and tied for first place in this category with Lee Dae-ho (retired) and Park Byeong-ho (kt wiz).
Choi Hyung-woo, who is in his 7th season at KIA, escapes from the slump in 2021-2022 and announces the return of a solver in the other line where Na Seong-beom fell due to a calf injury this year, supporting the team with age-forgotten fireworks.
The number of RBIs added by KIA is 589, and the rate of RBI accumulation is slower than in its heyday, but considering his age, it is reasonable to see it as ‘unchanging skill’.
By the end of this year, Choi Hyeong-woo, who reached the end of the year, left a large and clear mark in the KBO League hitter’s career record.
As of the 20th, Choi Hyung-woo ranks 4th in career hits (2,260), 5th in home runs, and 11th in batting average for batters with more than 3,000 at-bats.
In the match against Samsung on April 23 of this year, he surpassed manager Lee Seung-yeop (464) to become the number one player in career doubles, and has been increasing the number to 477.
Choi Hyeong-woo is a typical pull hitter, but he has good strength, so he often pushes bats out of the left fence with his cheesy batting method.
In the professional baseball game between the Samsung Lions and KIA Tigers held at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 21st, at the end of the 9th inning, where they trailed 2-4, they finished the comeback safely at 1st and 2nd base. KIA Choi Hyeong-woo, who led a dramatic victory by hitting a three-run home run, is being showered with water by fellow players.
Just as sophisticated hitters have a good pitching eye, Choi Hyung-woo picks out his walks well. His “eye baseball”, which ranked fourth in the walks category (1,046), was the driving force behind his splendid batting performance.
There are only five hitters with more than 1,000 total walks: Yang Jun-hyeok (1,278), Kim Tae-gyun (1,141), Jang Seong-ho (1,101), Choi Hyung-woo, and Park Han-i (1,28).
If you look at the WAR (WAR) value of the baseball statistics site Statties, Choi Hyeong-woo ranked 6th in this category with 70.37.
Former baseball team coach Seon Dong-yeol (107.07), a “national treasure pitcher,” is the undisputed No.