Foreign hitter Nick Williams (30, Hanwha Eagles) shows signs of a rebound.

Hanwha unfortunately missed the Changwon NC Dinos game on the 17th. By the beginning of the ninth inning, he was leading 9-7 and was close to victory, but at the end of the ninth, Son A-seop’s two-run home run tied the score, and at the end of the 10th inning, Kim Su-yoon took a finishing hit and knelt down. Although he failed in his 4-game winning streak, it did not mean that there was no ‘harvest’. Williams, who started as the second hitter and left fielder that day, swung a hard hit with 3 hits in 6 at-bats (2 doubles), 2 points and 3 RBIs.안전놀이터

It is the first time this season that Williams, who was recruited as a substitute foreign hitter on June 18, recorded three hits in one game. All three hits were ‘impressive’. In the beginning of the 5th inning, 2-3, with one out and 3rd base, he scored a tie with 1 RBI double, and in the 7th inning, which was 4-5, he scored another double with no one on first base. In the beginning of the 8th inning, leading 8-7, he scored the 3rd RBI with a right-handed, timely hit with 2 out and 2nd base. It was also the first NC game that Williams was responsible for 3 RBIs in one game. He led the batting line with No. 3 Noh Si-hwan (3 hits, 3 RBIs in 6 at-bats), chilling the opponent’s conversation.

Williams was more of a ‘troubleshooter’. It was a resource to replace Brian O’Grady (22 games, 0.125 batting average), who was expelled due to poor batting, but his performance was insignificant due to a batting slump comparable to O’Grady’s. However, on the 13th, he recorded 2 hits in 3 at-bats against the Doosan Bears in Daejeon, and flew with a batting average of 40% (6 hits in 15 at-bats) in the 3 consecutive games in Changwon. He had no strikeouts in 16 at-bats. Before he left for Changwon, he raised his batting average from 0.198 to 0.223 (27 hits in 121 at-bats).

On the 15th, Hanwha coach Choi Won-ho said of Williams, “The timing of (hitting) kept getting late, so I reduced the takeback time (moving the bat slightly backwards before swinging) a little.” If it’s about a second, it’s about 0.5 seconds now. And I think the timing is a little bit right. When I asked about the modified part of the hitting part, he said that he reduced that part,” he explained the changed part. He then expressed his expectation, saying, “The pitcher’s response has improved a little recently. He said that he seems to be adapting a little too.”

Did the fine tuning cause the ‘butterfly effect’? Williams’ attitude has changed noticeably.