SEOUL– Despite being one of the best leadoff hitters in South Korean baseball, LG Twins’ outfielder Hong Chang-ki has set a modest goal for himself for the postseason.

As he enters his second career postseason, Hong said Thursday he just wants to get one hit.

“I just want to pick up one hit, and once I get that out of the way, I think I’ll be able to relax at the plate,” Hong said in his pregame interview before hosting the Doosan Bears to open the first round of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason.

“In last year’s postseason, I was trying too hard to play well, and I was terrible,” Hong said.

He was 0-for-12 in three postseason games in 2020, as the Twins got eliminated by the same Bears in the first round.

But if Hong can duplicate his regular season success this time, he will be just fine.

He led the league with a .456 on-base percentage, while ranking second in runs (103), fourth in batting average (.328) and fifth in hits (172).

All the wiser after last year’s failure, Hong has lowered expectations for himself.

“When I was younger, I used to get really nervous in front of even a small crowd,” the 28-year-old said. “I no longer have that problem. We may have a lot of fans here tonight and I’ll try to stay calm.”

With the Bears’ starting rotation depleted, Hong and the rest of the Twins will likely face relievers more than starters in the series.

One Doosan reliever that holds the key will be right-hander Lee Young-ha, who has been excellent against the Twins throughout his five-year career.

Lee, who moved from the rotation to the bullpen in midseason, went 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA across 8 2/3 innings versus the Twins in the regular season. For his career, he has been 11-1 with a 3.46 ERA in 19 appearances against them.

“I don’t really remember losing against that team,” Lee said. “Even when I wasn’t feeling all that great, I managed to win games against LG. And in this series, it won’t matter when I’ll be asked to pitch. I’ll just try to eat up multiple innings and keep the other team from scoring.”

Source: Yonhap News Agency