Wiz star Hilliard taking advantage of rubber ball training during Korean Series
Sam Hilliard of the KT Wiz celebrates after hitting an RBI double against the Samsung Lions during Game 3 of the Korean Series at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu, Friday. Yonhap
DAEGU — Before he steps into the cage for his pregame batting practice, KT Wiz outfielder Sam Hilliard hits rubber balls tossed by a coach.
Hitting them is not just for fun. Hilliard said he first did it a few years ago while in the U.S. minor leagues. He stopped hitting rubber balls but then returned to his old practice ways earlier this year at the suggestion of hitting coach Kim Kang, as he was trying to break out of a slump in his first Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season.
Hilliard was batting .232 at the end of April, the lowest mark by any qualified foreign hitter at the time, though he also had five home runs in 28 games. In May, Hilliard burst out with eight homers and a .350 batting average in 25 games.
He has not looked back since. He finished the year by leading the KBO with 139 RBIs and ranked second with 44 home runs.
He has thrived in his first Korean Series against the Samsung Lions, too, batting .583 (7-for-12) with three doubles and three RBIs in three games. No one has more hits in this series, and Hilliard has hit one more double than the entire Lions roster.
In a conversation with Yonhap News Agency before Game 2 on Friday in the southeastern city of Daegu, Hilliard said working with the rubber ball helps him square up on the ball in real games.
"If you miss hit (the rubber ball) at all, it kind of rolls off your bat, and it will just fall. It won't go forward," he said. "So you have to square it up perfectly for it to go through the net and be a line drive.
"The other thing is, what your swing does after contact is very important," Hilliard continued. "(The bat) has to keep going toward the pitcher or where you are trying to hit the ball. If you don't have that part of your swing, then you are going to not connect properly with the heavy balls, and it is just going to fly off to the side. So (it) helps your swing path, as well as accuracy, where you are hitting the ball."
The rubber ball practice is clearly working. Hilliard had three hits in the Korean Series opener Tuesday, followed by two more hits the next day. Then on Friday, his double off the top of the center field fence in the top of the first inning scored the Wiz's only run in their 5-1 loss.
"The way the league was pitching me toward the end of the season was a little bit different than (earlier in the year)," said Hilliard, who was voted the Player of the Month for July and the September-October period. He is the first foreign player to win the top monthly award twice in the same season since the KBO started handing out these prizes in 2010.
"I think they have stuck with that approach, but they are doing a good job also of mixing up," Hilliard added. "So I can't really pinpoint exactly what they are trying to do, which is good on them. But no matter what they are going to try and do, pitchers are not perfect. So (I am) trying to be ready for the mistake."