Best KBO Picks Today Our experts preview all of the top KBO action, with full game analysis, stats, and betting trends included, we leave no stone unturned in our research. I love a good story, and its tough to beat the failed MLB outfielder turned elite KBO closer narrative. Their all-time winning percentage is .471, but they remain one of the most popular teams in the KBO. All Win Expectancy, Leverage Index, Run Expectancy, and Fans Scouting Report data licenced from TangoTiger.com. 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. Despite their 2019 record, the Giants seemed to be a little unlucky and should have performed better. Players to watch: Left-handed pitcher Chang-mo Koo, 23, is a prolific strikeout artist on the mound. In the past, it has hosted the 1988 Olympic Games, was a 2002 host city for the World Cup, and is the home of the world headquarters for Taekwando, South Koreas national sport. Itll be a nice homecoming season for Oh, who will be turning 38 in July, but can hopefully provide some quality relief innings for the Lions in 2020. The Eagles have three retired numbers, more than any other team in the league. Or consider Chris Flexen, whom the Mariners decided to trust based on two-thirds of a season. . So why would you root for them? All information presented here should be considered unofficial. An inauspicious end to a great campaign for the SK Wyverns, but hope remains. They scored fewer runs per game and allowed more runs per game than any team in the KBO. Theres some concern under the surface in his 4.43 FIP and .257 BABIP, but he should still be able to return as an innings-eater for KT. He also has the most starting experience of the relievers, starting 20 of his 39 appearances for Kiwoom from 2018 to 2019, before being moved exclusively to the bullpen in 2020. The Lions also seem to be embracing a rebuild, and are hoping that the rebuild is nearing its end, although they still project to be towards the bottom of the standings again in 2020. At 26 years old, Cho has time to build up his stock, and hopefully regain some of his velocity along the way. In the decades to follow, American major leaguers would play exhibition tours across eastern Asia to promote the game. Hi all! Among these young studs is CF Lee Jung-hoo, the reigning KBO MVP has expressed his desire to be posted by the Kiwoom Heroes after the 2023 season, joining Kim and others . The park replaced Daegu Baseball Stadium, which was the home of the Lions since their inception in 1982, and sat just 5,000 fans. Bit of a KBO newbie here, so please bear with me! Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix Buffaloes): Yamamoto is by far the youngest starter listed here at 22 years old. Yes. AN Woo Jin (KIWOOM) 2.11 2. The Lions home city is Daegu, which is the fourth-largest city in South Korea, and has the third-largest metropolitan area in the country with over 2.5 million residents. KBO 2022 Standings Win Matrix Updated Oct 11, 2022 8:00am Player photos and official team logos are the property of their respective teams. In any case, the Wyverns and their fans are hoping for another excellent year out of their star third baseman. During his time as a relief pitcher, he frequently had strikeout-per-nine rates pushing double digits, but as expected, as a starter those numbers have dropped. Yang Hyeon-jong ( Hangul: , Hanja: ) (born March 1, 1988) is a Korean professional baseball pitcher for the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). In that same time span, the teams have also won half of the championships theyve appeared in, with the Cards winning two of four and the Wyverns winning four of eight. In 1981, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) was established to govern the impending professional sport. But they took it a step further and named themselves the Wyverns, which is far superior and much cooler than your boring, run-of-the-mill, four-legged dragon. Hes a guy whose best pitch is a major-league average fastball with an okay curveball. The surface stats from 2020 dont do Go justice, as his ERA climbed from 1.52 in 2019 to 4.10 last year. History []. Updated: Thursday, March 2, 2023 3:23 AM ET, Park Factors He makes a lot of hard contact, and should bring a nice power boost to that lineup, whenever he arrives. I highly suggest you go read up on him. It has been quite an interesting career path for the South Korean product. 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. Saupold has a four-pitch arsenal: a four-seamer (90-92 mph), cutter (87-89), curveball (79-81), and change-up (85-87). Fernndez led the Bears in most offensive categories, slashing .344/.409/.483 through all 144 games of the KBO season as the Bears regular DH. 2B. In 2018, the SK Wyverns became the first team in KBO history to win the Korean Series with a foreign born manager, Trey Hillman. To give you an idea, let's imagine a pitcher who threw 200 innings, struck out 200, walked and hit 60, gave up 24 home runs, and 240 fly balls. DH. Also on the roster and making his return to the KBO and the Lions is former major leaguer Seung-hwan Oh. Youre hoping that hell adjust to a much higher level of competition in a relatively short period of time. Regardless, he was a top-20 pitcher by WAR, despite pitching significantly fewer innings than all pitchers above him. You neednt look further than his 6.04 K/9 in 2019 to know he goes about his business in a different manner than pitchers like Koo. KBO Winning Pitcher Strategy Picks for DraftKings and FanDuel 5/22 May 21, 2020 Posted in KBO, z Feature A by BClinks What an exciting and wild morning in KBO land! Last years KBO HR leader, Byung-Ho Park knocked 33 out; can Baek-ho Kang turn in a Yelich like season, keeping his .330 average but complementing it with league-leading pop? Each of our KBO picks will have a confidence rating alongside the analysis and pick. 15. Starting in 2020, if the two teams are tied for first place at the end of the regular season, they play an additional game to determine the regular season champion. SUAREZ Albert (SAMSUNG) 2.49 5. On my first trip, a work colleague pointed at my Cleveland Indians hat then pointed to his Tigers hat and said, I take you. Tigers fans are some of the most passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans I have ever met, and even in Northeast Ohio, it is not uncommon to see a Kia Tigers hat from time to time and share a few kind words. Its been an exhausting year, and wed all like to get on with our lives. Another player worth mentioning is Dixon Machado, who you might remember from his stint with the Tigers from 2015-2018. Meanwhile, Wilson spent a few years floating around the Orioles organization, never really doing a ton. Naver But then theres Chun-Woong Lee, who has absolutely no power to speak of, but can hit for a high average and is quite fast. Thats the kind of power weve only seen out of the likes of Trout, Pujols, or Bonds. Id legitimately consider taking him over Jordan Lyles or Kyle Gibson, both of whom signed for much more. His previous work can be found at Prospects365 and Dodgers Digest. The KBO's Brightest Star Meet Baek-Ho Kang, a 22-year-old first basemen from Seoul, South Korea, who has taken the KBO by storm and currently leads the league in WAR. With some exceptions, they are each fixtures in their respective leagues playoffs. Named KBO Best Pitcher with the SK Wyverns posting a 17-6 record with a 2.51 ERA in 190.1 innings with 180 strikeouts.Led the KBO in quality starts (24) while ranking second in wins and strikeouts, third in ERA and innings pitched.Was a road warrior earning 13 of his 17 wins on the road going 13-1 with a 2.30 ERA in 16 appearances. DraftKings KBO: Korean Series Game 2 Cheat Sheet Erik Halterman breaks down Game 2 of the Korean Series between the Bears and Wiz. During his time in Korea, Thames was referred to as God. While teams are typically named after their sponsoring corporation rather than their home city, local pride plays a huge role in sports fandom. They have won two championships (1984 and 1992) and have only made the playoffs six times since the turn of the century. 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. 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. 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. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. 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. Knowing which ones excel can help you make more informed value bets. wRC+ or Weighted Runs Created Plus takes the statistic Runs Created and adjusts that number to account for critical external factors like ballpark or era. 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. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. Only two pitchers for the Eagles threw over 150 IP in 2019: Chad Bell (177.1) and Warwick Saupold (192.1). Major League Teams I believe they play twice on April 1 + 2 at Jamsil. Apple, the Apple logo, and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. 3B. While the rate stats have been impressive, Koos innings pitched have also dropped in the last few years. Sadly, the Eagles fell back to the bottom of the standings in 2019 (59-85), but there is hope on the horizon. Much of the new responsibility will fall on the next two rotation arms for the Bears: the reliable 33-year-old southpaw Hee Kwan Yoo who finished with 3.25 ERA on the season, good for tenth-best in the league despite only an 11-8 record, and 21-year-old Young Ha Lee, who finished with a 3.64 ERA and a considerably higher strikeout (and walk) count than Yoo on his way to a 17-4 record. Their small gamble of two years and $4.75 million paid off instantly with his first year in Seattle, as he became the fifth starter the team needed. The Bears face the Kiwoom-LG . He never really altered his pitch mix, though he did seem to endorse pitching up in the zone with his fastball last season. The Samsung Lions are a former powerhouse that has fallen on tough times in recent years. This site is created for fans, by fans, and is not affiliated with the KBO League (KBO ) or the Korea Baseball Organization (). Hanwha Eagles/LG Twins Over 8.5 Runs (-116) When you have an awful team like Hanwha, the runs tend to come in bunches. In 2019, the team finished with a 60-83 record, and eighth out of ten teams. A total of 16 of 30 foreign players stayed in the KBO this year, one more than last year. They are the only team in the KBO not owned by a larger parent company. Android, Google Play, and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc. You may remember Byung Ho Park from a few years ago (2016) when he came over to the majors with the Minnesota Twins. Most Similar MLB Team: San Francisco Giants. 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. Saupold is set to take the ball on Opening Day against former Pittsburgh Pirate and Toronto Blue Jay Nick Kingham. Losing out first place to Doosan proved quite important. Kiwoom would eventually go on to be swept themselves in the Korean Series by Doosan. Historically, the Doosan Bears are one of the most popular and successful teams of the KBO who have been around since the beginning, likening a comparison to MLB traditional powerhouses like the Yankees or Cardinals. In 2019, manager Kim Ki-tai resigned and was replaced by Park Heung-sik. He has not had a K rate above 20% at any level since 2012 in rookie ball. GO Woo Suk (LG) 42 2. In his time since returning, he has home run totals of 34, 37, and 16. While there is plenty of excellent food in any of the ballparks in Seoul, you can also bring food into any of the ballparks and Seoul is a treasure trove for good food. Under the current KBO playoff format, the top seed has won the Series 24 of 29 times. Each stadium has a speciality food associated with cheering. The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. In 2019, he led the league with 36 saves while posting a 9.8 K/9 and a 1.98 ERA. If you feel really adventurous, there are markets everywhere, and in particular, the Namdaemun Market is the oldest market in Seoul and covers 66,000 square meters! Like the MLB, the KBO holds an All-Star Game partway through the season in July. KBO League Most Valuable Player Award - Wikipedia KBO League Most Valuable Player Award The KBO League Most Valuable Player Award is given to the player judged the most valuable player in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League. Last season kbo best pitchers the Series 24 of 29 times the zone with his fastball last.... 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