Yamakawa, the No. 1 home run-run player in Lee Dae-ho in 2014, played in all games for the first time in 10 years as the fourth batter of Softbank, and even resembled the role of a winning contractor (Min Chang-ki's Japanese baseball)
Aug 20, 2024
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Yamakawa moved from the Seibu Lions last winter. It signed a four-year-2 billion yen (about 18.2 billion won) contract with Softbank, which aims to win the title in three years, including incentives. Softbank recruited Yamakawa last year, despite controversy over his privacy, despite opposition from some fans. Yuki Yanagita (36), Yamakawa, and Kensuke Kondo (31), the existing leading hitter, made up the strongest 3-5 clean-up trio.
SoftBank's investment is paying off. Yamakawa, who had been hitting hard at the beginning of the season, has been in a severe batting slump for more than a month since the end of May. In June, he did not hit a single homer in 23 games. He ran first in the home run and lost it to Kondo. He hit .182 in June and .203 in July.
It came alive like a lie with the heat. He hit 13 home runs in 21 games in the second half of the year, which began after the All-Star Game. During this period, he posted a batting average of 3.33 and swept 23 RBIs.
As of the 19th, he has 27 home runs and 81 RBIs. He is the only player in home runs and RBIs in the Pacific League. He hit nine more home runs than Gregory Polanco (18 Chiba Lotte). On the 15th, he hit three home runs in a game for the first time in seven years against his former team Seibu. He has 13 more RBIs than runner-up Neftali Soto (Chiba Lotte, 68). Recently, he has mass-produced home runs like crazy, widening the gap with second place.
Yamakawa played four times in all games this season until the match against Chiba Lotte on the 18th. Even when he was extremely sluggish, coach Hiroki Kokubo did not adjust his batting order. "Yamakawa can sometimes hit a big one."," he said, sending his trust. Yamakawa, who has played No. 4 for a long time, is also comfortable and attached to No. 4.
If there is no injury, he is likely to take charge of the remaining 35 games four times. From the first year of the transfer, he is likely to play four games before 143 games.
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Lee Dae-ho, who played as an Orix center hitter from 2012 to 2013, played for Softbank for two years and moved to the Seattle Mariners in the Major League. In 2015, in the second year of Softbank, he played in 141 games and posted a batting average of 282 (144 hits in 510 at-bats), 31 homers and 98 RBIs. In the Japanese Series against Yakult Swallows that year, he performed very well and won the MVP. From 2014 to 2015, when Lee Dae-ho played an active role, Softbank won its second consecutive Japan Series.
Now Yamakawa is looking forward to his fourth appearance in all games in 10 years after Lee Dae-ho. With the first win in four years.
Last season, Ryoya Kurihara, Yanagita, Akira Nakamura, and Kondo took the fourth position. As Yamakawa was fixed to No. 4 this season, the batting line stabilized.
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Reporter Min Chang-ki huelva@sportschosun.com
huelva@sportschosun.com
