"We don't need anything big, just hit a 50-meter shot." Captain's advice sparks Diaz to a .524 batting average in five games... Samsung scores 10 runs per game, erasing the gap with the first-place team

*This content was translated by AI.

Five-game batting average of 0.524 (21 at-bats, 11 hits), two home runs, nine RBIs.

Lewin Diaz (30, Samsung Lions), who had been worried about not hitting a home run in 19 games, has fully awakened. The last season's home run champion could only take off after letting go of his desire for more home runs. The answer lay in the advice from "Captain" Koo Ja-wook (33).

On the 19th, Diaz started at first base and batted fifth in Samsung Lions' home game against SSG Landers at Daegu Samsung Lions Park, going 5-for-5 with one home run, five RBIs, and three runs scored.

His bat swung fiercely from the first inning. With one out and bases loaded, Diaz took a changeup from opposing starter Shota Takeda and launched a two-run double to take the lead.

In the second inning, with two outs and a runner on second, Diaz hit a single to right field. In the fourth, he singled against Park Si-hoo with no outs and one on base, then scored on Byun Byung-woo's three-run home run.

In the fifth, he unleashed a cannonball. With no outs and one on base, Diaz lifted Seo Jin-yong's low forkball over the right-field fence for a two-run home run. This was Diaz's 18th home run of the season. In the sixth, with one out and runners on first and second, he hit a double to add an RBI.

Diaz joined Samsung late in the 2024 season and last year hit 50 home runs and drove in 158 runs to win the batting double crown. It was the first 50-home run season in KBO League history since Park Byung-ho's 53 in 2015, and it set a single-season record for RBIs in the league.

That makes this season's performance all the more disappointing. His batting average has been solid, but his power has been quiet. He hit a tying three-run home run against KIA Tigers on the 13th to help end the team's losing streak, but that was his first home run in 19 games.

Since that game, he has been hitting over .500 in five consecutive games. Diaz said Koo Ja-wook's advice was a great help, with the key being to let go of the desire for home runs.

Koo Ja-wook said, "He seemed to be worried a lot. I told him many times not to worry about what people are saying or what others around him are saying. He's really trying hard to show his worth and survive, but he seems very frustrated, so I told him, 'You don't need anything big. Just hit a 50-meter shot. If you do that, you'll create better contact.'"

Although Koo Ja-wook is leading the league this season with a .357 batting average, offering advice to last year's batting double crown winner was delicate. "I don't think I'm at the level where I can give such advice to Diaz," he said, but added, "Diaz was struggling so much. How lonely must he have felt? So I approached him to try and lighten his mood."

Coincidentally, since then, Diaz has become a completely different hitter. Since the game on the 13th, he has recorded a hit in every game, and today marked the first time in his KBO League career that he went five-for-five, adding five RBIs to move into a tie for third place in that category.

With Diaz's resurgence, Samsung snapped a four-game losing streak and has gone 4-1 in their last five games, erasing the gap with first-place KT Wiz. During this stretch, the team led the league in home runs (13) and runs scored (50), while ranking second in batting average (.357).

This ultimately shows that Samsung can only soar if Diaz wakes up.

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*This content was translated by AI.