Kang Jung-ho hits 4th 2-run homer

It is about time Major League pitchers changed their mindset. It is recklessly behavior for them to pitch a fastball to Kang Jung-ho, 28, dubbed “the King of peace.” They should be particularly careful when throwing a fastball for their first pitch.

Kang started as the clean hitter and third baseball at an away game against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday. Kang hit 90 miles (145 kilometers) per hour fast ball that was pitched as the first pitch by John Danks, 30, Chicago’s starting pitcher, and had the ball cross over the right fence. It was Kang’s fourth homer for this season, and first homer that Kang hit in the fourth game after starting to play as the cleanup batter. Pittsburgh won the game 3-2.

Until Thursday’s game, the fast balls that Kang experienced in the Major League were 93.3 miles (150 kilometers) per hour on average speech, which were about 9 km faster than the speed of speedballs Korean pro-baseball pitchers pitched to Kang last year. However, Kang had hits off fastballs pitched by Major League players, and has posted a batting average of 0.432 and a slugging ratio of 0.674. He also had two of his four homers by batting fastballs pitched by Major League pitchers.

In an interview with local media in the U.S., Kang said, “(When comparing with Korea), I could hit fastballs even though they are faster, but it is more difficult to hit slow changeups, because they are more treacherous.”

Considering his ball count records, Kang has had the best performance when swinging at the first pitch. When he swung at the first pitch, he had a batting average of 0.571, and a slugging ratio of 1.000. He also had two of the four homers by swinging at the first pitch.

kini@donga.com