The race for the KBO home run title is heating up. Homegrown hitters are dominating, including SSG Landers’ Choi Jeong-jeong, who has moved into sole possession of the lead. At this rate, it’s possible that for the first time in less than a decade, the top three spots in home runs will be filled by Koreans.안전놀이터
Up until 21 days ago, there were only seven players in the league with double-digit home runs. Only two of them are foreigners, Socrates Brito of the KIA Tigers and Jose Rojas of the Doosan Bears (10+).
The four players at the top of the home run list are all Korean. But it’s the top of the order that’s hot. He has unleashed seven cannons this month, the most in the league, and has been touched three times in his last five games alone.
Their early pace has been a little off. After filing a masquerade in the opening two games, he went silent for 20 days. He ended April with four and didn’t add another home run for more than two weeks in May.
However, the class of the three-time career home run king hasn’t gone away. He adjusted to zero in the middle of last month and exploded this month. The day before, he hit a dramatic game-winning grand slam in the 10th inning against the Doosan Bears’ Lee Young-ha. With his 15t메이저놀이터 추천h homer of the season, he now leads the league in that category. He is on pace for 34 homers on the season.
LG Twins’ Park Dong-won, who was named May’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) for his bat, has cooled off. After smashing nine home runs last month to challenge for the unprecedented title of “Jamsil Catcher’s Home Run King,” he only added one more this month, bringing his total to 14. His monthly batting average of 0.326 isn’t bad, but he doesn’t have a lot of long balls. Still, the “umbrella effect” of LG’s batting lineup, which is full of big hitters, is a weapon that the competition doesn’t have.
SSG’s Choi Joo-hwan and Hanwha Eagles’ Noh Si-hwan (12+) have carved out a niche for themselves. Choi, who hasn’t hit more than 20 home runs since 2018 with Doosan, is on pace to surpass his career high this season. Although he’s a bit of a liability in the middle of the order, the emerging slugger who can drive in runs can also threaten the lead at any time. The previous day against KIA, he hit a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth inning to keep the lead alive.
If the current trend continues, it will be a home run race between the homegrown hitters. There hasn’t been a time in the last nine years when the top three home run leaders were all domestic. The last time was in 2013, when Park Byung-ho won the title with 37 home runs. Second place went to Choi Hyung-woo, who was playing for the Samsung Lions at the time, and third place went to Choi Jeong.
Article courtesy of Kookmin Ilbo