Professional baseball player Mel Rojas Jr. (35) of the KT Wiz hit multiple home runs, significantly improving his batting sense.
Rojas started as the fifth right fielder in the game against the SSG Landers, held on the 9th at Incheon SSG Landers Field, and went 2-for-3 with 2 home runs, 3 RBIs, 3 runs scored, and 1 walk.
With both teams tied at 0-0 in the top of the second inning, Rojas hit a lead-off solo home run, taking a 146 km/h fastball from SSG right-handed starter Seung-won Moon for a home run that soared over the right-center field wall. This marked his 12th home run of the season with a distance of 135 meters. With this home run, Rojas achieved his 500th career run in KBO League history, ranking him 119th overall.
With KT leading 5-1 and two outs in the fifth inning, Rojas stepped up to the plate in his third at-bat and launched a two-run home run over the right-center field wall off right-handed reliever Young-jun Jeon, hitting a 127 km/h forkball. This was his 13th home run of the season, with a distance of 120 meters.
Thanks to Rojas's performance, KT secured a 10-3 victory, ending their three-game losing streak. Rojas, who had his batting pace drop and spent time in the second division for adjustments from the 21st to the 30th of last month, showed a bounce back by hitting 9 hits and 4 home runs in 8 games since returning.
After the game, Rojas said, "I try not to think this way, but as the weather gets warmer, I can't help but notice that I'm really doing well. Since the weather has become warm and after going to Japan, my pace has improved. It seems like I maintained good aspects during today's game and showed a good game."
After returning from the second division, Rojas has recorded 4 home runs and hit his 175th career home run against Kiwoom on the 3rd, setting a new record for the most home runs by a foreign player in KBO League history. Reflecting on his improved pace, Rojas noted, "I've been trying to adjust various things that haven't been going well since the beginning of this year. Although it didn't show immediate results, I've been putting in effort to achieve results that matched my physical condition." He also mentioned, "A person surnamed Ahn provided crucial assistance in various areas. Thanks to that, my batting sense seems to have improved." When asked what kind of help Ahn provided, he replied with a laugh, "We ate McDonald's together. The rest is a trade secret."
Rojas, who struggled to adapt to the Automated Ball Strike (ABS) system early in the season, said, "I'm definitely not against ABS," but added, "I was heavily influenced by it in the early part of the season. There were times when I lost my concentration. In any case, we can't return to an era without ABS now. I'm accepting it and looking for pitches to get better results within it."
Rojas, who mentioned, "This is my personal opinion, but I think most batters would feel similarly," explained, "I think the ABS system is really good, but from the perspective of the batters, the strike zone size seems a bit larger, and there are definitely differences in each ballpark. These aspects are a bit challenging from a batter's standpoint."
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