It’s been an eventful start to the season. The man who has always been one of the best hitters in the game has gone through an unusually long slump. He was benched for three straight games, even though he had no injuries. Then he got back on track. LG’s Kim Hyun-soo had a three-hit game, including a home run, to lead the team to a 9-3 victory.
Kim Hyun-soo started as the No. 3 designated hitter against Jamsil Samsung on May 15 and went 3-for-4 with a solo shot and two RBIs. He added his first home run in nearly two months with a solo shot in the top of the fourth inning, and completed his three-hit performance with an RBI double to left field in the bottom of the sixth inning of the eight-run blowout. The win was LG’s fourth in a row and their first in 14 days.
Here’s what Kim had to say to the media after the game.
-I feel like my hitting is back. The hitting point has also come forward. How are you feeling right now?
My swing was the biggest problem. I believed that if I could get my swing back, I could always get my hitting feeling back. When my back hurt, I thought I was losing power and made a lot of changes without realizing it. When my back recovered, I realized that a lot of the changes I had made during that time were wrong. I put a lot of strength in unnecessary places and used my left shoulder quickly. It was obvious that my swing wasn’t working. When my swing became my own, the point naturally came forward.
-How would you describe your back condition now?
It’s great. When I first got sick, I had three weeks of treatment and now I’m completely fine. There were times when I tried to use my back too much after it healed, and that made it worse.
-I’ve had a lot of new experiences this year. Despite being healthy, you were left out of the lineup and benched for three straight matches. How did you approach those times?
It was the first time. If you think it’s hard, it’s always hard, but I tried not to think of it as hard. I thought I had to get through it. I don’t know what would have happened if I had hated baseball at that point, but even though it wasn’t happening, I didn’t hate baseball at all. If anything, I wanted to watch it more and play it more every day.
-Was your desire to play baseball stronger during that time?
I don’t think I was more hungry because I was always hungry. I just wanted to put it down and keep trying to figure out what was wrong, and I knew I could grow from it. I think that experience helped me because even though I’m a veteran, I still feel like I have a lot of baseball left in me. I think it helped me to get to the next level.
-Would you say you’ve developed a coping mechanism for when you fall into a slump again?
I’ve always been one to make a lot of changes when I’m in a slump. I would change my bat and change my equipment a lot, but the most important thing I learned from this experience was mental. You have to avoid getting down on yourself. You can hear things in the media and you can hear bad things on the field. Whenever that happens, I get intimidated and become more and more timid. I think you have to avoid that and keep what you have.
-Hyun-Soo Kim laid down a sacrifice bunt for the first time in 16 years. Isn’t it hurt your pride that Kim Hyun-soo bunted?
It’s not the time to think about pride. There’s no ego when the team is supposed to be in first place. If you’re going to build your ego in baseball, you should retire. You have to put your ego aside to win on the baseball field. My manager at the time talked to me about bunting before I stepped up to the plate. He told me to try it if the third baseman was behind me, so I went to the plate with the idea that I was going to bunt.
-The third baseman was pretty far in front of me at the time.
I thought about it, and I saw a fastball from Lee Seung-hyun in left field with a cutter. I don’t have the skill to bunt it to first base. If I hit it to first base, it would be a fly out, so I looked at third base and the pitcher. I realized that the third baseman is not an experienced player yet, so I didn’t think he would try to force a double play. So I bunted to third base.
-You started the weekend’s three-game series against Gocheok after sitting out the entire three-game series last week. How did you feel at the time? It must have felt like you hadn’t played in a very long time.
It was. I’m playing left field, and it’s a long way from the third base dugout to left field. I almost didn’t even make it to first base. Then I got a hit and it was really exciting. I think this experience made baseball more fun. On the other hand, it also made me wonder if I was missing out on some of the fun because I was going to games every day.
-The team is back in first place. How does the team feel so far, even though it’s always been a last-ditch effort?
The team is really good. All the players are good and playing well. We want to keep this momentum going, but we still have more games to play than one. That’s the most important thing. We have to stay focused because we still have more games to play. And we have young pitchers who are the pillars of our bullpen. I think our bullpen is going to be even better if these guys stay healthy.
-You’ve been playing a lot of designated hitter this year, how are you getting used to it?
I think it’s true that playing defense helps me breathe better, but I’m trying to do a lot of things to adapt to being a designated hitter. I’m trying to move around and not sit too much. I’m swinging a lot. I can’t say I’m ready yet. I think I need to work harder on some things.
-I hit 40 in April and then this. I’ve never been a record chaser, but I don’t think I’m going to chase personal records.
I don’t care about my personal performance. It’s not my style to chase that. The most important thing is to play a lot of matches and do well so that at the end of the day, the team finishes first. The best thing is for us to finish first 안전놀이터.