Kang Seung-ho, who hit a career-high in home runs, shares his thoughts on the inevitable strikeouts.
Kang Seung-ho started at second base and batted sixth in the lineup against the NC Dinos in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on April 18.
From his first at-bat, Kang Seung-ho’s bat was on fire. In the second inning, Kim Jae-hwan and Yang Seok-hwan hit back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second with no outs. With a 2-0 count, Kang took a 147-kilometer fastball from NC starter Shin Sang-hyun for a three-run home run to left field. It was Seung-ho Kang’s 11th home run of the season. The pitch reached 172.2 mph and traveled 121.5 meters.
With this home run, Kang set a new record for most home runs in a single season. His previous best was 10 homers in 2022. If he maintains his current pace, he could reach 20 homers for the first time in his career.
However, he struck out in his next two at-bats. In the third inning, he struck out swinging on a slider with runners on second and third, and in the fifth inning, he was hit by a forked ball with two outs.
In his final at-bat, he doubled to center field. Kang Seung-ho hit Han Jae-seung’s 144-kilometer fastball for a big double off the left-field fence. He was unable to follow up with a hit and failed to score.
Speaking to the media after the game, Kang said, “I wasn’t conscious of the home run career high at all. I didn’t think about the changeup in the two-ball situation. I just thought it was a fastball and swung it confidently.”
Despite his overwhelming home run pace, he is not greedy for home runs. “I’m not a home run hitter, so I don’t think about home runs at all. I’m trying to hit a lot of doubles, triples, and medium to long balls,” he explained.
In June, Kang Seung-ho started to play less and less. There were times when he watched from the bench rather than starting. “When I didn’t start, I took a 바카라사이트 lot of training because I could afford it. At the plate, I studied a lot in the dugout about the timing and aiming of our team’s hitters and the other team’s good hitters. As a result, my stamina improved and my hitting improved,” he explains.
Form and timing are what he focused on to regain his hitting touch. “I didn’t want to be as good as I was at the beginning of the season. I tried to find the right batting form and timing according to my current physical condition,” he said. “Coach Lee Young-soo helped me a lot. It didn’t work for a long time, but I found the balance sooner than I thought, so I’m satisfied.”
Kang Seung-ho’s home runs are often clothesline-like. This home run also traveled a whopping 172.2 kilometers. “I don’t try to increase the speed of my bat to increase the distance of my home runs, but I try to increase the speed of my bat a lot for the purpose of getting away from the catch. I’m also doing weights in the middle of the season, and I think my bat speed is increasing because I’m trying to hit the center of the ball.”
When he cleared his head at the plate, he was able to rebound. “I was thinking too much and it backfired,” Kang said, “I struck out against Song Myung-ki in the third inning because I was thinking too much. I had hit a home run with a fastball before that, so I was aiming for a changeup, but the first and second pitches came in as fastballs.”
“I realized that I shouldn’t be using my head, I should just look at the ball and hit it,” he added.
While he’s hitting at a career-high, the only thing he’s not doing well is striking out, which leads the league. He has 92 strikeouts so far this season, and if the trend continues, he will have 178 strikeouts. That would surpass the single-season strikeout record of 173 set by Quinlan (Hyundai Unicorns) in 2000.
Despite this, Kang said he’s not afraid of striking out. “There were times when it bothered me. Rather than trying to reduce my strikeouts, it’s more beneficial to just play my style and do things my way. I try to do what’s good for me,” he emphasized.