How many CPBLers can actually throw a splitter? I know Hung-wen Chen can, that’s about it, but I don’t follow the CPBL closely.
Some comments on FB say that when he was with Lamigo, he would usually take about 100 plate appearances and hit around .200 before he warmed up. I wouldn’t know, I didn’t follow Lamigo. He was doing well his first year before his injury, and last year his slow start combined with a shortened season and a minor injury created the lack of opportunities to warm up.
This season, he started hot and as of right now, is still OPSing around .900. He has more doubles than singles, and 10 of 16 hits are extra-base hits.
He also appears to do better against the top pitchers (e.g. Tanaka, Yamamoto, and Wakui). Some fans have said that the best pitchers aren’t afraid to throw him fastballs like the other ones.
I think he might have injured his foot again, that why he wasn’t on the starting lineup for the past week. After his pinch hit double last night, you could see him hobbling a bit.
Giants led the Ham-fighters 1-0. Giants’ ace Togo had been dominating the Ham-fighters lineup. Wang stepped up to the plate for the third time and belted a 2 run homerun. After which Togo completely fell apart, giving up a grand slam in the same inning.
The game was broadcasted by NHK so all of Japan could watch the game. In the post game MVP interview, Wang said this:
Despite being in Giants’ fans filled Tokyo dome, when Wang thanked Japan on behalf of Taiwan for shipping vaccines to Taiwan, the entire stadium cheered for him.
This year’s draft is STACKED because players were forced to return home because of the pandemic. Five or six of these guys would be the #1 pick on a normal year.
Jiang looks like a star. He has the stuff to go try out in the US, and dresses up nicely. The Guardians did well just getting him alone.
I think the Monkeys did well just by getting Chin san as well. Even though people might say the Brothers and the Dragons made a killing, sweeping all the great infielders, but for the Monkeys, their bullpen is the real problem.
He’s now just slapping the ball, instead of going for a full swing though.
Anyway, the limited AB is definitely affecting his performance.
Not letting him bat against lefties is also hurting him. I think Wang was performing equally poorly against lefty and right pitchers while still recovering from his injuries. At least he is still showing great hand-eye coordination, so maybe he can get his swing back.
It may be messing up his swing, and it’s a widely-held belief that he requires more games to warm up than others. But he is still getting extra-base hits (although only 1 HR since the break), and he did well coming from a Monday-LHP-LHP consecutive no play streak, and again recently.
In Taiwan there was no substantial difference in his performance vs lefties and righties. But he is a career .200 hitter in the NPB vs lefties and is 1 for 21 this season. I don’t follow the whole team, but I’m sure if Kuriyama has someone hitting better than .200 it’s not outrageous to bench him.
Also, his batting average will go up if he only hits vs righties.
His AVG last year was just .207, so .200 means he was hitting just as well against the lefties as he did with righties.
It’s long been proven that batting leftie against leftie is all about getting the AB to adjust. Wang isn’t getting any this season, so on the rare chance that he was on the starting lineup and didn’t get immediately pulled when a southpaw relief pitcher walked on the mound, there’s very little opportunity for him to actually get those ABs.
