Noh Si-hwan, from the exhibition game, bam bam bam bam… Should I reenact Hanwha Cleanup Quattet
Hanwha Noh Si-hwan’s bat is fierce. Analysts say that the swing seems to see Park Byung-ho in his heyday. Noh Si-hwan, who was sluggish last season, is determined to prove why he was evaluated as a “player who will succeed Hanwha’s big gun genealogy” this season.
Noh Si-hwan led his team to an 8-2 victory by hitting a home run in an exhibition game against Samsung at Lions Park in Daegu on the 27th. Noh Si-hwan has already hit four home runs in the exhibition game, showing off his peak batting sense. His batting average is .438. The on-base percentage is 0.471 and the slugging percentage is 0.875.
Noh Si-hwan, who made his debut with Hanwha in the 2019 season, raised expectations that he would grow into a big gun representing the league. Noh Si-hwan hit a double-digit home run in the 2020 season and seemed to grow as expected with 18 cannons in the 2021 season.
However, last season’s growth was put on hold. The batting average was not bad at 0.281, but the number of home runs decreased to six and the number of RBIs was only 59. The performance of the exhibition game shows how much Roh Si-hwan prepared for the new season. Noh Si-hwan said, “My pride in the season has also been hurt,” and stressed, “I trained enough to expect myself, and I am confident that I will do better than last season.”
Even for Hanwha, who lacked players to hit a single shot, it is nice to see Roh Si-hwan like this. The reason why he broke up with Mike Tuckman, who showed good performance, and that he found a big gun outfielder ahead of the new season was because of his thirst for “one shot of the centerline.” It is regrettable for Hanwha, which was called the “Dynamite lineup” in the past.
Hanwha recruited Brian O’Gredi to solve the problem and brought Chae Eun-sung from the free agent market. With them at the center, adding Noh Si-hwan to Kim In-hwan, who showed potential last season, gives weight. Some expect that it will be able to surpass the “clean-up quartet,” which led to “Duck Clark, Kim Tae-kyun, Lee Bum-ho, and Kim Tae-wan.”
Meanwhile, Hanwha, which finished at the bottom for three consecutive years, will play its last exhibition game against Samsung in Daegu on the 29th. If they win the game, Hanwha will finish first in the exhibition game.