He seems to be an important part of Giants history, and his story deserves attention from all baseball fans. KO Young Pyo (KT) 13 4. Last season, the Lions were the third-worst team in terms of runs allowed per game, giving up 5.08 per game. In addition, keep an eye on foreigners Chris Flexen (who pitched 68 innings in the majors for the Mets from 2017-19, but showed flashes of potential in the minors) and Raul Alcntara (who pitched to a 4.01 ERA for the KT Wiz in 2019 and was described as the KBOs Kyle Hendricks by Ben Clemens at FanGraphs), both signed by Doosan in the offseason. KBO Betting Guide - Starting Pitchers. He rebounded from that rough stretch and finished the season with a 3.69 ERA in 97 2/3 innings, and should be a key member of the teams rotation moving forward. 2020 hasn't quite gone as planned for anyone or anything, including baseball, but US audiences got to taste an amuse-bouche with the start of the season for the KBO (Korea Baseball Organization). Seoul is the largest metropolis in South Korea (fourth largest in the world with over 9.7 million people) and is the capital city of South Korea. KBO teams tend to anchor their rotations with foreign pitchers, the max being two on a team (and for most teams those are your numbers one and two in the rotation). Interest in former major leaguers in the KBO has spiked in recent years, and so have re-exports of these players back to the States. The fastball that used to average 95 was now topping out at 95 and averaging 92, which is a worrying drop. The injured list (10- , 15- , or 30-day limits) will be introduced to the KBO in 2020. Last year, the Heroes shocked everyone by making it all the way to the Korean Series where they were swept in four games by the Doosan Bears. Your email address will not be published. Heroes started as a brand new franchise in 2008, they did not start and continue from the Sammi Chungbo Pacific Hyundai lineage. This is a young team on the rise; in 2019, the Wiz had the third-youngest lineup and the youngest pitching staff in the KBO. Eric Jokisch (Kiwoom Heroes) Eric Jokisch can seem like a pitcher from another era. Strailys struggles in 2019 stemmed from his slider, which had been his go-to secondary pitch for his entire career, but lost its effectiveness in 2019. Sadly, the Eagles fell back to the bottom of the standings in 2019 (59-85), but there is hope on the horizon. At the time, he was around the same age as Rucinski is now, with a similar reputation for providing clean innings in bulk. The soon to be 38 year-old 1B/3B has led the Eagles in batting average every year since 2015. In 2019, their best pitcher was most likely Gwang hyun-Kim. To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Another player to watch is second-year player Min-gyu Kong, who, at just 19 in his rookie season, was third on the team in OPS, with a .245/.333/.434 slash line. Will the power return? At the end of the day, the KBO is what we love: baseball. He, too, was pretty good in the KBO, but was nowhere near as great as Rucinski has been for the past few years. and play-by-play data provided by Sports Info Solutions. *Note: Theres a $5 million club option for 2024. Lee Jung-lee (left) and Kang Baek-ho (right) With Kim Ha-seong 's latest success as the Padres SS, KBO's best young stars could join him stateside soon as well. Dae-ho Lee was born in Busan, went to high school in Busan, and while in the KBO has only played for the Giants, who, as previously mentioned, are the only team that plays in Busan. Despite the deadened ball, he still had a .958 OPS and nearly half his hits went for extra bases. The better the team, the better their bye meaning the first-place team from the regular season gets an automatic spot in the Korean Series (the KBO championship series). This was a difficult decision to make. The Samsung Lions are a former powerhouse that has fallen on tough times in recent years. Ahn is likely being groomed as Kiwooms next closer should Sang-woo Cho depart, but in the meantime they combine to give Kiwoom the most powerful back-end relief combination in the KBO. He then spent the 2016 season still as a position player with NPBs Yakult Swallows for a brief 17 games. Required fields are marked *. Both leagues will also be taking a break from mid-June through early August to allow players to represent their countries in the Olympics, which should result in both Japan and South Korea fielding competitive teams in the event. Progressive front offices, similar colors, and oh, Thames has played for them both! Like his teammate Cho, Ahn dealt with some injuries during the 2020 season, getting a late start to the year due to a shoulder problem, and missing close to a month during the season with back issues as well. Itll be interesting to see if he can revitalize his game like so many former MLB-players before him. As a contact-oriented pitcher Jokisch was at the mercy of his defense, and luckily for him the Heroes were the best defensive team in the KBO. The Snakes simply havent had the sustained success that the Wyverns have. In 2019 the Wyverns posted an 88-55 (.615 win percentage) which was good for the best in the league, tied with their main rivals and eventual 2019 champion Doosan Bears. This forward-thinking approach is supported by the Dinos hiring of Swiss Army knife front office member Patrick Bourgo, a SABR member who serves as the lone employee in KBO whose role is specifically to help foreign players adapt to Korea and bridge cultural barriers that have deterred previous foreign players. Expectations are clearly high for the Doosan Bears going into 2020. for the latter part of his career. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. Moon Kyeong Chan () stepped in as the closer last year and saved 24 games while compiling a 1.31 ERA. The former pitcher is aiming to build the bridge between the front office and the coaching staff on the field and rebuild [the] team into a contender.. Also on the roster is former major leaguer Ben Lively, who joined the Lions for 57 innings in 2019, and will return for the 2020 season. Its a fun team that seemingly uses every resource available to it to find success. We know what they are. An FSWA award winner for Research Article of the Year, Alex is the co-host of On The Corner and host of the weekend edition of First Pitch. Over 177.1 innings, Rucinski posted a 3.05 ERA and 3.6 WAR (good for 12th in the KBO) with an approach that hinges on a pitch-to-contact approach that is popular in the KBO. Baseball-Reference While the Heroes were the top offensive team in the league in 2019, the Bears were probably the next best, finishing in second in runs scored with 736 (over five runs per game) due in part to their league-leading .355 OBP, and in spite of their bottom-half power numbers. The matchup here is tough but Choi has been one of the more solid pitching options in the KBO over the past few seasons. Hyun-Jin Ryu, Shin-Soo Choo and. First team to win the Pennant Race, Korean Series and Asian Series in the same year. The long weekend is just around the corner. From FanGraphs, Strailys slider was a positive pitch by run value in every season of his career until 2019, where it plummeted to 14.7 runs below average. But in the KBO, Kelly has been good, pitching to a 2.55 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP over 180.1 innings last year; that ERA was good for the fourth-best in the KBO. KBO 2022 Standings Win Matrix Updated Oct 11, 2022 8:00am Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. For those of you who dont know him, Hillman has had a. The left-hander uses four pitches, a four-seam fastball in the low 90s, high-80s slider, circle change, and a curveball. The owners of the team also own KT Rolster, one of the worlds top Starcraft e-sports teams. They had the lowest weighted on-base average (wOBA) in the KBO. Maybe one or two. A club legend while playing for the Wyverns from 2007-19, he made the transition to the US prior to the 2020 season. The NL Central crown is certainly possible, but not at all a lock. Some have even gone on to do great things in the MLB after successful KBO careers. He could wait until he is eligible for free agency, and follow the path of Seung-hwan Oh by going to Japan for a couple of years before getting a chance at the big leagues. This could be a quirk of quality of competition as opposed to an improvement on Strailys part. Sampson does not have as big a track record as Strailys, but is younger and likely has a higher KBO ceiling. All seven of the top pitchers over the past three seasons were at least 6-foot-3, with only two of the top 14 (6-foot-2 Aaron Nola and 6-foot-1 Trevor Bauer) shorter than that. Theres been a lot of drama, too, involving a top free agent, a medical issue, and boatloads of cash. In the regular season, all games have a 12-inning limit. Last year, Chun-Woong Lee slashed .308/.378/.374 with two home runs, 88 runs, 48 RBI, and 21 stolen bases. While the Eagles finished close to the bottom in a majority of offensive and pitching categories, theyll look to a staff mixed with veterans and newcomers along with a new GM to help them climb back to the top of the KBO standings in 2020. KBO picks and predictions Sunday's five-game slate will feature some of the top pitchers in the entire KBO. The NC Dinos, founded in 2011, were originally members of the Freedom Division of the Korea Baseball Futures League, which serves as a non-affiliated farm system for Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). Since teams dont use foreign players to shore up their bullpens, homegrown pitching becomes important to be able to close out games. KELLY Casey (LG) 2.54 TOP 5 WINS MORE+ 1. The most recent winner is Lee Jung-hoo of the Kiwoom Heroes . Being an Angels, Nets, and Chargers fan, I have become quite familiar with disappointment. Just two years removed from a championship, the Tigers decided to make some changes during the season and after. 1 - Jose Miguel Fernandez The Doosan Bears signed Fernandez before the 2019 season, and he's spent the last two years being a huge part of their lineup. Machado could not keep up with big-league pitching, but could find success as an above-average defensive infielder. Meanwhile, Wilson spent a few years floating around the Orioles organization, never really doing a ton. While Mike Wright had a rather lackluster career in the MLB (6.00 ERA, -0.2 WAR), the 30-year-old looks to improve from a middling MLB pitcher to a domineering force in the KBO. But for every Kelly or Flexen, theres someone like Josh Lindblom, who signed with the Brewers after two great seasons with the Doosan Bears. Yang is a key member of the Kia Tigers and is considered one of the top pitchers in the Korean Baseball Organization. An influx of MLB talent, which well cover below, pushed the team to 59 wins in 2018, good for a 9th place finish, followed by a bump up to a sixth-place 71 wins in 2019. In 2019, the Bears best pitcher was undoubtedly Josh Lindblom, who won the Choi Dong-won award (the KBOs Cy Young equivalent) in both 2018 and 2019, and took home the league MVP in 2019 with league-leading numbers in wins, strikeouts, WHIP, K/BB, and opponent AVG, and finishing second in ERA on the season. He signed with the Mariners in 2016, and despite relative success in the big leagues, he returned to the KBO, signing a four-year, $12.9M contract with his hometown Giants. Min-ho Lee (LG Twins) At this point in the list of pitchers, we are starting to look at pitchers who have potential, but still need to prove that they deserve a chance to pitch at the MLB level. Hes a guy whose best pitch is a major-league average fastball with an okay curveball. Montgomery was also part of the 2016 Cubs team that won the World Series. The Bears had a top tier pitching staff as well, though like their lack of offensive power, they had a remarkably un-flashy lack of strikeouts, ending up in ninth place in total strikeouts. This wasnt with the Dinos, but this is why Ive rooted for Thames since 2012, and why I have picked the Dinos as my KBO team: given @EricThames' signing with the nationals today, i would like to remind everyone of the greatest walk-off interview i have ever seen. Of the top 23,. There are bat flips. With a strong defense behind him (and Jokisch himself is no slouch, winning the Fielding Bible Award at pitcher), he was able to win the ERA title at 2.14. Thanks to their lack of a larger parent company, Kiwoom has always had one of the lowest payrolls in the league, and 2019 was no different, as they had the third-lowest payroll. Finally, the Hanwha Eagles, who continued their decades-long slump in 2020, only re-signed pitcher Nick Kingham. Between relaxing on the sofa and reading up on Drew Rucinski, deciding on which is the more appealing option doesnt seem like a difficult task. Justin is a contributor at FanGraphs. Team Information; Player Search; Scoreboard; Daily Schedule; Team Standings Hi all! Aaron Brooks (Kia Tigers) Aaron Brooks came to the KBO with much less fanfare than Dan Straily, but there are similarities in both of their journeys to Korea. In a league where choking up on the bat is almost customary, eliciting whiffs is easier said than done. Doesnt hurt that theyre shaping up to have what will be one of the more dominant pitching staffs in the KBO, too. Id rather have him than Jordan Lyles or Kyle Gibson also. Despite the low strikeout totals, Jokisch did receive interest from MLB teams over the offseason before resigning with Kiwoom. (Seriously. To compare his success in the KBO, Zack. Americans Aaron Brooks and Drew Ganon will help give the Tigers one of the better starting rotations in the KBO League. Sill only 28, Kingham will look to reinvent himself in Korea, and has been named the Wyverns Opening Day starter. Take Merrill Kelly for example, whos serving as the de facto ace for the rebuilding Diamondbacks. of coaching experience that has enshrined him in international baseball lore. But the comparisons dont stop there, and they are not all rosy. Koo Chang-mo, NC Dinos you picked as best pitcher was in the bullpen half the year, thats why innings so low. I highly suggest you go read up on him. He never really had much success in the majors, finishing those two seasons slashing .271/.330/.399 with seven total home runs. Maddux is one of the most unique pitchers of all the greats. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers. 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