From a threat of expulsion to a fall hero... KIA Castro, PO's 1st home run explodes

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kyung-yoon Kim = Foreign hitter Harold Castro of the professional baseball KIA Tigers hit the first home run in this year's playoffs (PO, 3 wins in 5 games).

Castro fired a two-run shot over the right wall against Samsung starting pitcher Chris Fedek in the top of the 3rd inning with 2 outs and runners on first base in Game 1 of PO against the Samsung Lions held at Daegu Samsung Lions Park on the 26th.

With a ball count of 3 balls and 1 strike, he kicked 4 fouls in a row and harassed Fedek persistently, then hit a low cut fastball on the 9th pitch and drew an arch.

Castro led the KIA attack with a hard hit from the beginning of the game, including a timely hit to the right in the top of the first inning when the score was 0-0, with two outs and two on second base.

Castro was a player who was on the verge of expulsion just four months ago.

A month after the season opened, he was out of action due to a left hamstring (muscle behind the thigh) injury, and KIA recruited injury replacement player Aderlin Rodriguez.

Aderlin hit 32 hits in 31 games in place of Castro, 10 of which were home runs, showing off his incredible slugging power.

On the other hand, Castro only had a batting average of 0.250, 2 home runs, and 16 RBI in 23 games before his injury, so there were predictions that KIA would completely replace foreign hitters.

However, the situation changed when Aderlin declined to extend his contract due to personal reasons.

KIA decided to continue accompanying Castro instead of completely replacing foreign players.

Castro, who survived the threat of expulsion, began to perform tremendously after returning in June.

In June and July, he recorded a monthly batting average of .400 consecutively, and in September and October, he also recorded a monthly batting average of .300, giving strength to KIA's batting lineup.

In particular, he played a great role in supporting the main hitter Kim Do-young and preventing opposing pitchers from focusing on Kim Do-young.

Castro finished this year's regular season with a batting average of 0.327, 21 home runs, and 88 RBI, and also performed well in three semi-playoff games with the LG Twins with a batting average of 0.417, 1 home run, and 2 RBI.

And from the first PO game, he continued to show off his hot hitting skills by swinging a bat.

KIA's decision to give up Aderlin and choose Castro is shining in the fall baseball season.