"Baseball is about succeeding even after seven failures": LG Twins foreign investor Austin Dean, the secret behind his overwhelming performance leading in slugging percentage, OPS, and hits

*This content was translated by AI.

Boom. Boom.

Two home runs by Austin Dean (33) brought victory to the LG Twins.

On the 17th, at Incheon SSG Landers Field, Austin, batting third and playing first base in the visiting game between the LG Twins and the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League, went 2-for-3 with two home runs, one walk, four RBIs, and two runs scored, leading the team to a 6-4 victory.

Austin, who joined the LG Twins in 2023, is now in his fourth year in the KBO. He won the first baseman's Golden Glove in both 2023 and 2024, but his performance this season exceeds even those expectations.

In 42 games, he has posted a .359 batting average (61 hits in 170 at-bats), 11 home runs, 36 RBIs, 33 runs scored, a .433 on-base percentage, a .647 slugging percentage, and an OPS (on-base plus slugging) of 1.080. His batting average with runners in scoring position is also as high as .383.

He ranks second in batting average in the league, first in hits, slugging percentage, and OPS, fifth in RBIs, and third in runs scored. He is having a more impressive season than any before.

On this day, with the team holding a fragile 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth, Austin targeted a curveball from Kim Geon-woo that dipped low in the zone, launching a three-run home run to left-center field. In the eighth inning, he lifted a forkball from Noh Kyung-eun over the left-center fence once again.

After the game, manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said, "In a situation where we needed more runs, Austin led the entire lineup with back-to-back home runs and four RBIs, earning a major share of the victory. I also want to praise his outstanding defensive play in the sixth inning, showing his dominance on both offense and defense."

Austin said after the game, "I feel incredibly good. It seems SSG adopted a strategy in this series to limit good pitches, especially targeting the corners and the edges of the strike zone, making it difficult to make solid contact. Despite the challenging situation, I stuck to my original strategy and was able to produce good results, contributing to the team's victory, which makes me feel great."

He continued, "Like yesterday and the day before, I assumed they wouldn't give good pitches, so I narrowed the strike zone somewhat. I visualized a zone where I could generate powerful hits. In particular, in my first at-bat, I was lucky to see a curveball slip from the pitcher's hand, which allowed me to hit a powerful home run. In my second at-bat, I was waiting for a fastball, but a breaking ball came in, and I made solid contact. I feel very lucky that it went over the fence."

The duel with Noh Kyung-eun was quite interesting. Noh started with a 100 mph pitch, then threw a 108 mph knuckleball to get two strikes, gaining an advantage. However, perhaps because Austin had already experienced such a knuckleball with extreme movement, he targeted Noh's forkball and eventually hit a home run.

Austin said, "I knew Noh had that kind of pitch, but it was the first time I had seen it in four years. It was difficult to react to it, so I'm glad I did. If I had reacted, it might have resulted in a ground ball or a fly out. I hope Noh throws that pitch more often. It is a rare pitch in the KBO, especially."

Austin said, "There is no special secret. I have learned and gained a lot from many failures, which seems to have led to good results. Baseball is like that. Even if you fail seven out of ten times, you can still make it to the Hall of Fame, so it can be seen as a sport of failure. I think the key is to not collapse when facing failure but to learn from it and move forward, which leads to good results. Not only I, but my teammates would say the same thing. In this sport, it is far more important to learn from failure and develop rather than be discouraged by it."

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.