The bat of foreign player Mel Rojas Jr. from the professional baseball team KT Wiz has heated up. Rojas started as left fielder No. 6 in the away game against the Samsung Lions at Daegu Samsung Lions Park on the 15th, recording 2 hits, including a home run, in 4 at-bats with 3 RBIs and 2 runs.
After grounding out to second base in the 2nd inning and to the shortstop in the 3rd, Rojas drove in a run with a double over the left fielder in the 5th inning with no outs and a runner on second. He advanced to third on Lee Ho-yeon's groundout to second and scored on Oh Yun-seok's sacrifice fly to center field. In a scoring situation with two outs and a runner on second in the 6th inning, he exploded for a two-run home run that traveled 110 meters.
KT hit 5 home runs and a total of 15 hits, defeating Samsung 16-4 and celebrating its second consecutive victory. After the game, Rojas said, "The competition for rankings with Lotte and Samsung is fierce, so I wanted to finish this series with a winning record as much as possible." He added, "Today, I am happy about my personal home run and RBIs, but I am especially glad that I could contribute to the team’s victory and the winning series. It is meaningful that a home run came out in the same game as Ahn Hyun-min, who I consider like family."
Rojas is just 2 home runs away from surpassing the all-time record for foreign players in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League.
Since recording his first home run in the KBO League on June 28, 2017, against the Hanwha Eagles, Rojas has accumulated 173 home runs. If he records 2 more home runs, he will surpass the 174 home run record held by Woo Ji-won (formerly of Doosan Bears), the all-time record holder for foreign players. If he exceeds Woo's record, he will break the all-time record for foreign players in home runs for the first time in 23 years since 2002.
After joining KT as a replacement player in June 2017, Rojas recorded 18 home runs in 83 games. In the following year, 2018, he recorded 43 home runs, establishing himself as a leading home run hitter in the KBO League.
Continuing to steadily increase his home run record, Rojas particularly excelled in 2020, recording a personal-best 47 home runs in a season, finishing first in the KBO League for home runs. Additionally, except for his debut year, Rojas has recorded over 20 home runs each year and achieved his 27th consecutive season of 20 home runs in the KBO League last year.
Rojas said, "I have 2 home runs left to break the all-time home run record for foreign players. I don’t expect to achieve it in this series because I tend to hit home runs better at Jamsil and Gocheok than at Daegu and Munhak."
He continued, "I want to achieve that record and share the joy with the fans. When I first came to KT, there were many ups and downs, but thanks to my teammates and the fans, I adapted well, and Korea feels like another hometown. I want to stay with KT as long as possible."
Rojas revealed that Ahn Hyun-min has become like family. Recently, Rojas went out to eat with his son Crew and Ahn Hyun-min. A fan commented that they were eating together as "'Real Rojas', 'Little Rojas', and 'Baby Rojas'". Rojas smiled and said, "Ahn Hyun-min and I are really close."
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