SSG Landers Guillermo Heredia, 32, is swinging the bat again.
Heredia leads the division with a .342 batting average through 25 games. He’s just ahead of second-place Yang Ji Hyun of the Doosan Bears (.327).
Heredia first reached the top of the batting order on May 7. Since then, he has briefly lost the top spot to Noh Si-hwan of the Hanwha Eagles, Hong Chang-gi and Moon Sung-joo of the LG Twins, Seo Ho-cheol of the NC Dinos, and Choi Hyung-woo, Kim Sun-bin, and Socrates of the KIA Tigers before regaining it. Since May 21, he has consistently held the top spot in batting average.안전놀이터
After hitting a season-high .373 on May 11, Heredia cooled off for a while. His average dropped to .306 over the last six days. He then went on a tear, recording one five-hit game, four three-hit games, four two-hit games, and five one-hit games in a 16-game stretch from May 7 against the KIA Tigers to May 24 against the Samsung Lions. His batting average during that span was first (0.476). This allowed him to mow down the second place group.
Heredia isn’t the type of big bat you’d expect from a foreign hitter. His strength is his ability to make contact. “When we were looking for a foreign hitter, we wanted someone with a high batting average without being a big bat,” says SSG Landers coach Kim Won-hyung. So far, he’s a more advanced version of Juan Lagares, who hit .315 as a substitute last year. Lagares has played in 850 Major League Baseball (MLB) games with a .250 batting average.
Heredia sees the ball well. He has a low strikeout rate of 0.09 per at-bat (39 total). Despite not being a big hitter, he has taken advantage of the relatively small size of Incheon SSG Landers Field, hitting eight home runs (four at home). He also added 16 doubles (6th), giving him a high on-base percentage of 0.504.
He’s been batting fourth in the SSG since mid-April. Heredia has been a fixer-upper, tying LG Austin Dean for the team lead with nine game-winning hits. He also leads the team in hits.
Heredia is also tied for third in RBI (48), tied for ninth in runs scored (39), ninth in slugging percentage (.398) and fifth in on-base percentage (.496). He is also tied for 18th with seven stolen bases. Her offense, defense, and stats are outstanding.
“When you look at her swing mechanics, she has a wide area to hit the ball,” said Kim Won-hyung. Even if the timing is late, she pushes with power, which is why her batting average is good.” “If the timing is good, home runs come out,” he said. “If I think about my personal records or goals, it gets in my head at the plate. So I just think about hitting for the team,” she emphasized.