“The team always comes first. Seeing LG win is my first goal.”

Austin Dean, who is putting an end to the brutality of foreign batters in the LG Twins, revealed his strong aspirations.

LG has suffered from a series of sluggish performances by foreign batters in recent years. Just looking at last year alone, they recruited two players, Rio Ruiz (27 games batting average, 0.155, 1 home run, 6 RBIs) and Lovel Garcia (39 games batting average, 0.206, 4 home runs, 19 RBIs), but as you can see from the results, they did not have much fun. As a result, LG played the postseason, the most important period of farming, without foreign hitters, and eventually had to kneel down to Kiwoom Heroes in the playoffs.

Austin Dean is ending LG’s brutal history of foreign batters. Photo (Jamsil, Seoul) = Reporter Kim Yeong-gu
But this year is different. Austin, who was ambitious, is leading LG’s attack with great success every day. Austin has a batting average of 0.336, 4 homers and 32 RBIs as of the 20th before the game. His OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) is 0.844, and his batting average in scoring position reaches a whopping 0.377.

Austin, who led LG’s 3-1 victory by posting 1 hit and 2 RBIs in 4 at-bats including the final against the Hanwha Eagles in Jamsil on the 19th, said, “I try to get into the plate (at bat) without thinking too hard in the scoring situation. When you think about the situation, you may feel burdened,” he said. It seems to be showing good results in the scoring situation,” he explained why he was strong in the game.

The moment Austin shined the most was at the end of the 3rd inning when LG trailed 0-1. Entering the plate with the bases loaded with two outs, he hit the 148km slider of the first pitch of opposing starting pitcher Moon Dong-joo and hit a timely hit with two RBIs that exceeded the height of the left fielder. It was a shot that changed the atmosphere of the game at once, and it was the moment when he gave starting pitcher Casey Kelly a scoring assist.

Kelly, who received this help from Austin, kept the mound until the beginning of the 7th inning and blocked Hanwha’s batting line with 6 hits, 1 home run, 4 strikeouts and 1 run, and posted his 4th win (2nd loss) of the season. Austin also expressed his affection for Kelly, saying, “Above all, I am happy to contribute to Kelly’s victory by hitting well in scoring position today.”

He said, “When you play baseball, there is a flow whether it goes well or not. It felt like it was coming back after going bad for the last few games스포츠토토,” he said. At the beginning of the season, I did a lot of first ball attacks, but I think the flow came back and I think that the result was achieved by attacking the first ball.”

At the time of the final stroke, Austin also performed a playful ceremony that he had promised with Kim Hyun-soo. He said, “Since Kim Hyun-soo joked with me, I can play the game comfortably. He also melts into the team.” When asked if he made a bet on grades with Kim Hyun-soo, he said, “I didn’t. I don’t even want to do anything Because I know what kind of player Kim Hyun-soo is. If he dared to bet by batting, he would think I would lose,” he said cheerfully.

The family currently living together in Korea is a great source of strength for Austin. He said, “I want to give all the credit to his wife. While I work out at the baseball field, he does all the housework and babysitting, so I can prepare for the game and play according to my routine. All I can do now is to repay her wife by being a good man and husband,” he said. “My wife is someone I respect. She said, “I think she is the best woman out of all the people I’ve met.”

LG Austin having an interview with his son after the Hanhwa Exhibition in Jamsil on the 19th. Photo (Jamsil, Seoul) = Reporter Lee Han-joo
In recent years, due to the sluggishness of foreign batters, LG even came up with the term ‘foreign batter’s curse’. Austin, who is breaking this curse, was aware of this as he received SNS messages from many fans since spring camp. He said, “Of course, I know about the curse.” You don’t know when it will come down,” he cautioned against pride.

Finally, Austin said, “I am enjoying baseball very much after coming to Korea. That’s good. As for the goal, he said, “What I am good at is the latter, and in the former, the team always comes first. The first goal is for the team to win together and go all the way to this year’s championship (Korean Series) and see LG win.”