“Shouldn’t Velázquez buy something more expensive? Because he paid twice.”
Bae Ji-hwan (24, Pittsburgh Pirates) proudly asked starting pitcher Vince Velasquez (31) for a gift. It was worth it. On the 14th (Korean time), Bae Ji-hwan started as the 8th hitter center fielder in the 2023 Major League Baseball match against the St. Louis Cardinals held at St. Louis Busch Stadium in Missouri, USA, and showed fantastic ‘the catch’ twice, leading to a 5-0 victory. laid the foundation.
Bae Ji-hwan’s first defense came at the end of the 4th inning when the team faced 0-0. Tyler O’Neill’s batted ball went wide in the middle left in the crisis of 2nd, 2nd and 3rd base. It was enough batting for him to hit the fence and score a two-run double.먹튀검증
However, Bae Ji-hwan did not just let O’Neill become a hero. He chased the batted ball to the end, caught it with his glove, and treated it as a floating ball. After catching the batted ball, he hit the fence and ran at such a speed that he fell back and flew up. Velázquez expressed his gratitude by raising his arms to Bae Ji-hwan’s ‘The Catch’. O’Neill’s exit velocity was 101.2 miles (about 163 km) and the distance was 395 feet (120.3 m).
The second hobi came out at the end of the 5th inning. In the bottom of the 5th inning, with 2nd out and 1st base, Alec Burelson’s batted ball was slightly cut and landed in front of the center fielder, but Bae Ji-hwan rushed forward and dived and treated it as a fly ball again. Burrelson, who expected a hit, even threw his helmet on the floor with a disappointed expression when Bae Ji-hwan stole the ball.
The biggest beneficiary of Bae Ji-hwan’s second lake fee was Velázquez. Velázquez was sluggish with an ERA of 9.82, taking only two losses in two games before the game. A rebound was absolutely necessary, and the 0-0 tight game flow was well maintained, but Bae Ji-hwan helped a lot in every crisis and played a scoreless game with the first qualitative start of the season.
In the match against the Boston Red Sox on the 5th, Bae Ji-hwan started to gain recognition as a center fielder by riding a green monster and performing defense that was close to snatching a batted ball. Bullpen pitcher Colin Holderman, who was greatly helped by Bae Ji-hwan at the time, paid back by buying coffee after the game.
Bae Ji-hwan expressed his inner feelings by joking about the reaction of the US local reporters who asked if he was expecting a gift this time as well. In an interview with MLB.com, he joked, “Holder Man bought me coffee the other day. Velázquez has to buy me a more expensive one. Because he’s done it twice.”
MLB.com said, ‘Velasquez is contemplating how to compensate Bae Ji-hwan. He could be his lunch, he could be his dinner. No matter what reward Bae Ji-hwan chooses, he is fully qualified to make that choice,’ praising Bae Ji-hwan’s defense, which saved both the team and Velazquez.