Will Samsung Lions’ Lewin Diaz be able to take the stage in the Korean Series with the team.
Samsung, led by head coach Park Jin-man, will play the first playoff game against the LG Twins in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League postseason at Daegu Samsung Lions Park on the 13th. Samsung, which went straight to the playoffs as the second-ranked team in the regular season, waited for its opponent after two weeks of training since the final regular season game against LG on the 29th of last month.
Diaz, who was hired in August as a substitute for Ruben Cardenas, who was controversial, hit a home run from his debut and entered the KBO stage splendidly, and showed off his slugging power by hitting seven home runs in 29 games, keeping the center of the lineup with 31 hits, 14 runs and a batting average of 0.282, and helping the team go straight to the playoffs.
“My physical condition is so good right now, and I have faith in the manager and the team as well,” Diaz said after the last training session on Wednesday. “I prepared hard. I feel like something special is going to happen. I feel like something good will happen.” 스포츠토토
Even before joining the Samsung Lions, Diaz led his team to the postseason this year with 19 home runs and 77 RBIs in 75 games for the Campeche and Mexico City teams, with an batting average of 0.375 and an OPS of 1.099. “He has experience in the postseason in the U.S. or Dominican Republic as well. I think Korea will be different, but I think there are some things to learn from the difference,” Diaz said.
“In fact, I was surprised to hear that there was a two-week preparation period for the first postseason game after the regular season. But I didn’t prepare anything special for two weeks, and I tried to do the same as I did while keeping my rhythm and routine thoroughly,” he said.
Diaz, who also confirmed the semi-playoff, pointed out, “When I came out to the baseball stadium, the broadcast was on, so I kept watching it, but since it was a big game, there seemed to be a lot of tactics. There were a lot of bunt, and he seemed to be actively stealing. Where I was, I tend to score points with home runs, but I saw things like that trying to draw points through tactics.”
Diaz faced LG only once in the final round of the regular season. Diaz said, “I think we are a good team even though we competed against each other once. I hope it will be an interesting series. Of course, I think we will win and go to the Korean Series,” smiling, “I always remind myself to play a game that is helpful to my team. I want to get on base no matter what and contribute to my team’s victory.”
