Has the era of evaluating batters by their batting average completely passed? Even batters with ’10th place in active batting average’ can’t escape the cold rice in the FA market.
The batting average was the best for a player who had good contact, handled the bat well, and hit it well. The hitting king was a medal for them. Still, batting average is a number that cannot be ignored when evaluating hitters. It is an intuitive indicator of batting talent. There was no need to think hard about the batting average, which is a number that goes up when you hit a lot.
However, baseball has become more systematized and advanced. The concept of saber matrix appeared. It has been pointed out that there is a limit to evaluating a hitter’s productivity because the batting average evaluates the value of all hits, such as singles, doubles, triples, and home runs, equally. As data analysis has been strengthened, it has become possible to dig into each hit in detail. I started looking at the quality of my hits, and I started valuing the values of batted balls that counted as hits. In addition, external factors such as the field, defensive ability, and shift began to be taken into account. The concept of in-play batting average emerged.
Here, as the concepts of hitting production and run production emerged, weight began to be placed not only on hits, but also on the ability to get a lot of walks and get few outs. As the value of hits was subdivided, the slugging power was also rated higher than before. OPS, which combines on-base percentage and slugging percentage, has now become an indicator that can more intuitively check the value and productivity of hitters. Detailed and advanced figures that indicate the productivity of hitters such as WAR (contribution to victory over substitutes), OPS+ (adjusted OPS), and wRC+ (adjusted scoring production) also appeared.
In this trend of the times, the value of the batting average gradually plummeted. Gone are the days when batters with only good batting average, expressed as ‘tick-tock’, were highly evaluated. Of course, hitters with good batting ability also have good batting averages. However, not everyone with a good batting average is good at batting production. It is becoming clear that batting average does not guarantee productivity. On the hitter’s valuation list, batting average has been relegated to a lower rank.
All of the players who found their nest in the free agent market this year were highly evaluated in terms of positional characteristics, defensive factors, and batting production. Eui-ji Yang, Dong-won Park, Kang-nam Yoo, and other catcher free agents were each recognized for their value. Doosan Yang Eui-ji is a player with excellent overall batting ability and pitcher lead and leadership. Park Dong-won of LG is good at long hitting and stealing. Lotte Yoo Kang-nam received high praise for his framing and health. Lotte shortstop Noh Jin-hyeok was recognized for his ability to hit 20 homers.
Lee Myeong-gi (35), a C-class player in the FA market this year, is not significantly inferior to the players mentioned above in terms of batting talent and ability. He has a career batting average of 3.6 0.7 mo (1097 hits in 3577 at-bats). He is ranked 10th in active batting average. In 2006, he joined SK (now SSG) in the 2nd 8th round. Traded to KIA in 2017, he had a career high season with a batting average of .332 (154 hits in 464 bats), 9 home runs, 63 RBIs, 79 points, 8 stolen bases, an on-base percentage of .459 OPS and .830. It was a blessing that made a contribution to KIA’s unified victory. 토토사이트
He was traded to NC in 2019, but his career was twisted. He was disciplined last year for violating quarantine rules. He hasn’t found his pace since returning this year. In 94 games, his batting average was .257 (77 hits in 300 at-bats), 23 RBIs, 36 runs, on-base percentage, .313 OPS, and .642 slugging rate.
A player with a guaranteed batting average of 30%. However, it is difficult to evaluate him as a productive player. His career OPS is .759. He is a tick-tack player who lacks on-base ability compared to hitting and, above all, lacks long-running ability. With this year as the starting point, it is not strange to put the question mark of aging.
Currently, there is no demand for Myung-Ki Lee in the FA market. NC, the original team, has no intention of signing Lee Myung-gi. He is a C-class free agent and has no compensation restrictions, but he is not interested in other clubs. As complex factors such as the trend of the times and the trend of generational change overlap, there is almost no demand for Lee Myung-gi.
The medal and title of Lee Myung-gi’s career, which is 10th in active batting average, have become virtually unknown. Faced with the headwinds of his era, he is not immune to the cold meal in the FA market.