"The 1cm difference is big." Three times in four years, the king of on-base hits, laughs at the downward adjustment of the ABS zone..."I like low courses. It's easy for me"

"The 1cm difference is big." Three times in four years, the king of on-base hits, laughs at the downward adjustment of the ABS zone..."I like low courses. It's easy for me"

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Hong Chang-ki, the on-base man of the LG Twins, welcomed the adjustment of the automatic ball-strike system (ABS) strike zone this season. "I like low-course balls. The ABS downgrade will be in my favor," said Hong, who has excellent on-base ability.

After the end of last season, KBO listened to various opinions on ABS and pitch clock through surveys of players. There were many opinions that ABS' upper strike zone, which was introduced for the first time in the world last year, needs to be adjusted. There were many scenes where batters were embarrassed by the high-course strike decision.

The KBO has finally decided to lower the strike zone by 0.6 percentage point (about 1 centimeter for a 180-centimeter-tall player) and apply 55.75 percent for the top and 27.04 percent for the bottom of the strike zone based on the game indicators for the 2024 season, the comparative analysis of ABS zone decisions, and expected changes due to the strike zone adjustment. The size of the ABS zone will move from top to bottom without any change.메이저놀이터

Hong Chang-ki is tall at 189 centimeters. However, his batting form is designed to lower his lower body, allowing him to curl up a lot. In the strike zone that is set according to the player's height, he can suffer losses on high courses. Last year, Hong often expressed regret over ABS strikes on high courses, whether inside or outside.

In 139 games last year, Hong recorded a batting average of 336 with five homers, 73 RBIs, 96 runs and 96 walks, a .447 slugging percentage, .410 and an OPS.857. He won the on-base plus trophy for the second consecutive year.

After his on-base percentage of .456 in 2021 and .444 in 2023, he has won the title of on-base man three times in the last four seasons until last year. He is the best on-base machine in the KBO League. In the first year of ABS introduction, he had a hard time adapting to the ball at the top of the strike zone, but his on-base ability shone through.

As he left the spring camp, Hong Chang-ki said, "I always say this when I prepare for the season, when I go to the camp, but I want to continue what I've prepared since winter to spend it without injury and increase my long hit or strong hit."

"There were a lot of ground balls. Last year, we had a lot of single hits and a lot of ground balls, so we prepared to increase our trajectory a little bit. I thought I needed to rotate a lot to send a strong pitch, so I did a lot of spinning exercises." Hong Chang-ki tends to hit the inside and outside balls consistently with spray heaters. There are many ground balls between 12th base and 3rd base for low-course balls.

Referring to the ABS zone being adjusted to be about 1cm lower this year, Hong said, "I think it will be a little advantageous for me. I had a lot of trouble with the high ball last year, so the 1cm difference may be small, but I think it will be big. I think (downward adjustment) will help me a lot." He added, "I like low balls."

The downward revision of the ABS zone will reduce the number of disappointing decisions made on the high-course ball. When Hong said he could achieve a higher on-base percentage, he humbly said, "I don't think it will be easy, and I will prepare well. I aim for an on-base percentage in the 40s."