Why Hanwha failed in 2024... Expecting FA Effect? Without 160km and home run king, no goal is achieved
Why Hanwha failed in 2024... Expecting FA Effect? Without 160km and home run king, no goal is achieved
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Hanwha's rosy outlook for 2024 is already in full swing. It is because the team has significantly strengthened its power from outside. Following the acquisition of An Chi-hong, an infielder with proven offensive power, from the free agent market, it surprised everyone by making a U-turn on Ryu, who was playing in the Major League. The keywords throughout the offseason were Hanwha, and also Hanwha.스포츠토토
Hanwha, which recorded 58 wins, 80 losses and six draws (.420) in 2023, has emerged as a candidate for the postseason at once. Although there is still a long way to go before winning the championship, a flurry of positive previews have been made that the team will be able to pave the way for the championship. Externally, there was a factor that could add more wins. Some analysts say that Ryu himself could add 8 to 10 wins to his team right now. He said that if he creates synergy effect with his previous team, he can secure a 50% victory.
Hanwha ended the season with 66 wins, 76 losses and two draws (.465) in 2024. Hanwha, which was ranked ninth in the league in the previous year, only took one step further from the previous year. Although it added eight wins year-on-year, the team was far from a 50% win rate. Externally, Ryu and An Chi-hong gave positive effects to the team in their own way. However, there were negative wins that were excluded from the inside. Moon Dong-ju (22) and Noh Si-hwan (25), the present and future members of the team that the team considered "a constant," were examples of such cases.
Noh became the league's home run king with a batting average of 0.298, 31 homers, and 101 RBIs in 131 games in 2023. He took the steps of growth step by step to rise to the top. With some relief from inning limits and management, Moon pitched 118 ⅔ innings in 23 games, an encouraging performance with an 8-8 record with a 3.72 ERA. His strong performance at the Asian Games seemed to symbolize that this talent has only one more task to play for. One thought his prime had begun, and the other thought that all restrictions had now been lifted.
In 2024, however, the team failed to meet high expectations. Roh had a batting average of 0.272, 24 homers, 89 RBIs and 0.810 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in 136 games. It was not a bad thing in absolute terms, and his contribution to defense got better as he quietly played in games. However, his scoring capacity, which was 60 percent higher than the league average, definitely did not fall back to the average level that he expected.
Due to his injuries and poor performance, Moon suffered from trial and error. He pitched 111 ⅓ innings in 21 games this season, recording 7-7 with a 5.17 ERA. Notably, he only posted 3-6 losses and a 6.92 ERA in 13 games in the first half, and his extended time in the second division disrupted Hanwha's rotation plans. Despite the two players' poor performances, which he thought would improve, Hanwha also failed to gain momentum. Paradoxically, their share of the team grew that much.
Hanwha continued to make bold investments this off-season as well, and has completed preparations for its new home stadium. It has also recruited shortstop Shim Woo-joon who boasts of excellent defense and base running, and Um Sang-baek, the starting pitcher who garnered double-digit wins in two of the recent three seasons. He has continued massive investment for three consecutive years. Naturally, positive factors are added from outside, which will lead to better performance than last year's, and expectations are high that he will be able to enter the post season. However, if the two players fail to meet expectations like last year, this effect will likely halve.
Last year, Hanwha said, "I can't believe Moon Dong-ju is the fourth starter…I was envious of him. "I can't believe I have a mid-20s infielder who can hit 30 home runs every year…I was also envious of him. In other words, all previews of Hanwha can be completed only when the two players perform like that. As they are the players who will lead the team in the future, they need to keep track of the future.
Fortunately, Noh has completely recovered from minor injuries that directly caused his slump at the end of the season by tormenting himself during the season. In the first half of the season, Noh finished the season with an outstanding performance of 4-1 with a 2.60 ERA in eight games in the second half. It is fortunate that he ended the season in a not-so-bad mood. The two players' performances are no longer a "hope factor" for Hanwha to advance to the post season. They are "essential." If there is a process to fill in, Hanwha's outlook for the 2025 season cannot be worse.