Playing for the Atlanta Braves’ Triple-A team in Major League Baseball (MLB), Hyo-Jun Park has rebounded in May.
Through today (25 May), Park is 13-for-47 with four doubles, two home runs, a .277 batting average, and a .893 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage). He struggled in April with 11 hits in 46 at-bats (one double), a .239 batting average and a .647 OPS, but he rebounded this month and is now batting .258 with a .771 OPS on the season.
Park has had the misfortune of bouncing from team to team since last season. After being DFA’d by his original team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, on 23 November last year, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox on a pending release. However, just 20 days later, on 13 December, he was again DFA’d by Boston and traded to Atlanta.
Atlanta then DFA’d him again 12 days later to clear space on the 40-man roster, and with no more teams wanting him, he accepted a Triple-A assignment.
With his status changed from major leaguer to minor leaguer on the 40-man roster, Park wasn’t even invited to Atlanta’s spring training earlier this year. This meant that Atlanta had virtually no intention of calling him up. When Park continued his early-season struggles at Triple-A, it looked like the tables had turned, but he was the one who turned it around.
However, it’s unlikely that Park will be called up to the big leagues anytime soon. With Aji Alvis holding down his primary position at second base, and the same Triple-A team containing Vaughn Grissom, who has bounced back and forth between the majors and minors, and Brayden Schmidt, the team’s favourite prospect, it’s hard to see him getting an immediate opportunity, especially since Grissom and Schmidt are on the 40-man roster, unlike Park.먹튀검증
However, if he continues to perform well in Triple-A, he could be traded to another team in need of a second baseman or utility player. Here’s why Park needs to keep his May momentum going.
It will be interesting to see if Park can bounce back from his struggles last winter and become a big leaguer again.
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