Roh Si-hwan of the Hanwha Eagles, left, celebrates with teammate Kang Baek-ho after hitting a grand slam against the Kiwoom Heroes during the clubs' Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

Does confidence breed success or is it the other way around?

Roh Si-hwan, the surging slugger for the Hanwha Eagles, says the former has been the case for him lately.

Baseball is such a humbling game that even a player with Roh's track record — a pair of 30-homer, 100-RBI seasons and a runner-up finish in MVP voting in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) — can battle confidence issues. The 25-year-old did so when he managed only eight hits in his first 13 games of this season, with zero homers and just three RBIs. The Eagles sent him down to the minor league on April 13.

Roh went deep in his first game back with the Eagles on April 23. And he has been on a tear since the start of May, batting .364 in 10 games with six home runs and 15 RBIs — both of them the highest totals in the KBO this month.

Roh continued his hot streak Tuesday night by hitting his third career grand slam to help the Eagles to an 11-5 win over the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.

"I think confidence has been the biggest factor for me," Roh said afterward. "When I am struggling, I can get really down on myself at the plate. I start having too many thoughts and start fighting myself instead of the pitcher on the mound. But right now, I am only thinking about facing the pitcher and nothing else. That has been a huge difference."

In the KBO home run race, Roh has gone from a non-factor to a name to watch over the past couple of weeks. With his seven home runs, Roh is tied for seventh, five back of Kim Do-yeong of the Kia Tigers.

Roh insisted he hadn't been trying to hit home runs and his focus had been on making hard contact every time.

"I want to keep my swing simple and drive the ball. That's why I've been hitting so many home runs," Roh said, before adding with a grin, "I want to have the feeling of floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee."

Source: Korea Times News