Twins Hope Byung Ho Park Can Add Power To Lineup
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- He's the great unknown the Twins are banking on to bring added power to their lineup.
Byung Ho Park, at the age of 29, is fulfilling his dreams of playing in the major leagues. He's a household name in Korea, where he averaged 52 homeruns the past two seasons. But how does that translate here with the Twins?
Hitting coach Tom Brunansky is impressed with the attention to detail Park is demonstrating.
"Well the great thing about Park is that he's more of an Americanized swing than most Koreans or Asians players that come over," Brunansky said. "He sits a lot to his backside, which is obviously where he creates his power. There's not a lot of head movement. He's pretty solid in his approach and what he wants to do."
Park is also getting plenty of work at first base. His main role will be as DH, but realistically he could play 30 - 40 games at first. Bottom line: can he prosper here?
"With JD, his interpreter, we sit down, it's not so much we talk about hitting. We talk about him as a person, the things he does and he likes to do," Brunansky said. "And you come to find out that he's a pretty grounded young man, which is special, because there's no ego. It's not about him. It's almost to a fault, where it's not…he feels bad, he feels embarrassed sometimes."
