In the KBO League, large multi-year contracts of players who are about to acquire FA qualifications are spreading like a trend. As a club, it has the advantage of eliminating the possibility of losing key players to other clubs in advance. However, if a player who has signed a multi-year contract falls into a slump, the effectiveness of the contract itself may be questioned. As it is literally a ‘multi-year contract’, it is necessary to keep an eye on not only the first year of the contract, but also whether it is active after that.
In December 2021, SSG Landers signed a multi-year contract with Jwata Geopo Hanyu Island for a total of 6 billion won for 5 years. After the end of the 2022 season, SSG has eliminated the possibility of Hanyu Island, which is scheduled to acquire FA qualification for the first time, entering the free agency market.
Hanyusum joined SK Wyverns, the predecessor of SSG’s Landers, in 2012 and showed off his long hitting power with 29 home runs in 2017 and 41 home runs in 2018. He also faltered with 12 home runs in 2019 and 15 home runs in 2020, not exceeding 20 home runs.
However, in 2021, the first year of SSG’s acquisition of the club, Hanyu Island succeeded in rebounding with 31 homers. The WAR (Kaby Report), which represents the contribution to victory versus substitute players, was 4.14, the highest since his professional debut. It was clear why SSG rushed to sign a multi-year deal after the season. Some analyzed that the SSG club pressed Hanyu Island, which could have won a much larger contract if it obtained FA qualification after the end of the 2022 season, as a ‘cost-effective contract’.
Last year, the first season after his multi-year contract, Hanyu Island had a batting average of 0.264, 21 homers, 100 RBIs, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.850. His batting average wasn’t very high, but the rest of the metrics were impressive enough. The WAR was also 3.95, a high figure comparable to the previous year. Hanyu Island, who was in charge of the captain, acted as a solver from the beginning of the season and took the lead in SSG’s first wire-to-wire championship in KBO league history.
This year, his second season after his multi-year contract, Hanyu Island has been captain for the second year in a row, but is struggling. He’s not very good with a 0.129 batting average and no homers, 3 RBI OPS of 0.392. It may be difficult to attach much importance to him because it is early in the season, but his WAR is negative at -0.29. He has no extra hits, including doubles, and no games with multiple hits. Last year, he was appointed as the fixed number 4 hitter, but this year he was pushed to the number 6 hitter.
The sluggishness of Hanyu Island may be related to bad luck. The BABIP, which indicates the batting average in play, was 0.328 last year, but this year it fell by 0.146 to 0.182. It is also far lower than the league average BABIP of 0.309 this season. As Hanyu Island’s batting average rises, the rest of the indicators are likely to improve naturally.
SSG, which did not miss 1st place in the regular season last year, is in 2nd place as of the 18th after losing 3 games in a row. It is fortunate that starting pitchers such as Kim Gwang-hyeon and Romero did not fall behind due to injuries. However, voices are being raised that it is somewhat far from the strength of last year.
In order for SSG to achieve its second consecutive victory, the captain, Hanyu Island, needs a rebound.토스카지노 Attention is focusing on whether Hanyu Island will take the lead in building the SSG dynasty by regaining its unique home run gun.