Jared Young (29), a foreign hitter of the Doosan Bears in professional baseball, is showing an amazing performance.
Jared started the game against SSG Landers in the “2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League” at SSG Landers in Incheon on the 11th and scored three hits, one homer, one RBI and one run from five times at bat. He showed off his amazing strength by hitting home runs in four consecutive games.
Doosan started the season with Henry Ramos, a foreign hitter, this season. Ramos had a decent performance in 80 games with a batting average of .35 (95 hits in 311 at-bats), 10 homers, 48 RBIs, 43 runs, three steals, and OPS.842, but Doosan suddenly announced on waivers on April 23 and hired Jared as a substitute for the foreign hitter. Doosan is thus taking the lead in replacing Ramos, who was criticized for being an out-of-game issue, in order to compete for the ranking position in the second half of this season.
So far, Doosan’s winning move has been successful. Some say it is a stroke of genius. Jared, who adjusted his batting performance by hitting a double in his debut match against KIA on the 30th of last month, had five hits, two homers, eight RBIs and five runs from six times at bat against KIA on the following day, July 31. Jared, who has continued to hit hits since then, has hit home runs in the past four consecutive games starting with the game against LG on the 8th. Along with Tyrone Woods, Jared ranks first in Doosan’s franchise history and fifth in 안전놀이터 KBO League history. If Jared hits home runs in five consecutive games, he can be on par with Andy Marte in 2016 and Jamie Romak in 2018, and if he hits home runs in six consecutive games, he will tie the record with Charles Smith in 1999 and Andy Burns in 2018.
Jared, who had the best start in the KBO League, has a batting average of 467 (21 hits in 45 times at bat) in 11 games this season, with six homers, 19 RBIs and 13 runs scored and an OPS of 1.523. Thanks to Jared’s performance, Doosan’s batters also seem to have recovered completely. He has scored a whopping 102 runs in 11 games since joining Jared.
Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop said in an interview before the game on the 11th, “First of all, I see the ball well. There were a lot of swings and misses in the high-speed ball, but now I think I’ve adjusted a lot. In addition, the KBO League throws a lot of fastballs, but also throws a lot of breaking balls, so dealing with breaking balls is also important. Yesterday, he hit a breaking ball against Kim Kwang-hyun, hit a home run, and a sacrifice fly at an unfavorable ball count, so he is a batter with good contact ability. I think I can play with a sense of stability because I had a on-base percentage of over 40% in the minor leagues.”
“I can play fastball well,” coach Lee Seung-yeop said. “Swinging is very sophisticated. The swing trajectory is good. I think I can have good contact because my head is not moving much. The batting form is stable. Since the stance tends to move a lot, a high ball may be a weakness, but I am gradually coping with it as I play. I think I am definitely better than the first time,” he said, expressing confidence in Jared’s performance.
Doosan ranks fourth in the league with 58 wins, two draws and 54 losses and a .518 winning rate. Since there are only 30 games left, each and every game has become very important. Fans are increasingly excited about whether Jared can become a savior of Doosan, which is in a fierce competition for ranking.