[MyDaily = Gwangju Kim Jin-seong] “He’ll need time to adjust. I truly hope he hits well…”
KIA Tigers’ injury-replacement foreign hitter Aderlin Rodriguez (35) has no Major League experience, but he spent 13 years in the minors, followed by two seasons in Japan’s professional leagues and stints in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. He acknowledged this is his first season in Korea and said he’ll have to see how similar the KBO is to Japan once he gets more at-bats.
But ahead of the May 5 meeting with the Lotte Giants in Gwangju, manager Lee Beom-ho said, “We brought him in with his experience in Asian baseball in mind. We’re really hoping he hits. He’ll need time to adapt. We watched a lot of video, and he hit well in that league, so an adjustment period is definitely necessary.”
Those concerns eased quickly. In the bottom of the first inning, with two outs and runners on first and third, Aderlin launched a three-run homer in his first KBO plate appearance. Facing Hanwha starter Kang Geon-woo, he worked a 3-1 count and drove a fifth-pitch slider that hung over the heart of the plate to center field.
A homer in a player’s first plate appearance has happened 22 times in KBO history; Aderlin is only the sixth foreign player to do it. That’s fewer than some might expect. For KIA, Hwang Jeong-rip delivered a decisive homer on Sept. 14, 2012, during a Gwangju doubleheader against the Lotte Giants. Hwang played just 39 games across two seasons and retired with two career home runs.
After the homer Aderlin didn’t add another hit, but he otherwise looked lively in the box. He impressed by studying the scouting reports provided by the club’s analytics staff and listening closely to the hitting coach before stepping in. Still, he showed areas that need work — he chased pitches on the outer edge at times and pulled the bat off the plate on pitches that ran away.
Defensively he looked steady. His primary positions are first and third base, and he met expectations there. Manager Lee said, “He’s solid. He seems to handle balls hit into his lane well. We’ll keep evaluating him, but he has plenty of experience at first base. His size should make throws to him comfortable for infielders. He says he played enough in Japan, so there shouldn’t be an issue.”
The real test starts now. Over the next six weeks KIA needs Aderlin to perform on both sides of the ball and erase memories of Herald Castro, who didn’t deliver consistently. If Aderlin hits, the club will surely give him a longer look. His chemistry with cleanup hitter Kim Do-young will be important, but regardless of timing, production at the plate is the priority.
Aderlin said he was pleased to earn a win in his KBO debut. “I’ll do my best in my role to keep the momentum going. I didn’t expect a homer in my first plate appearance. Since it was my first league at-bat, I wanted to watch the pitches closely. The pitcher had already thrown off-speed pitches up to a 3-ball count, so I thought he might throw another off-speed pitch even at 1-3. The outside slider was sharp, but I timed my swing well and turned it into a homer. It was a personal thrill, but more importantly it gave the team the early lead, and that felt great,” he said.
He added, “I enjoyed facing so many Korean pitchers today. They have strong fastballs and sharp breaking stuff, so they were tough to handle. My task is to keep adapting to these new styles. In my first game there were a lot of things to focus on: adjusting to the ABS strike zone and making sure I was set before the pitch clock expired. But with more reps I think I’ll feel freer at the plate, and when that happens I’ll be able to perform even better.”
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