This was a difficult decision to make. but was at his best last season, putting together a 2.29 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 184.2 innings. While teams are typically named after their sponsoring corporation rather than their home city, local pride plays a huge role in sports fandom. Brooks didnt have the strikeout numbers that Straily had, but he limited walks (only 24 allowed in 151 1/3 innings), throws harder (his fastball averaged just under 93 MPH) and is more than a year younger. My livelihood isnt affected by page views, so were cool here. He had nowhere to go but up. 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. Minor League Leaders AAA: Triple-A East, Triple-A . Its a league fueled by MLB-caliber players yearning to leave an impression, passionate fans, organizations hungry for championships and much more. The city also hosted three matches during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, in which South Korea shared host nation duties with Japan, with the South Korean team achieving their best-ever finish, finishing fourth in the tournament. The good news? The Wiz are a young team with some very exciting players complemented by some veteran pitching. The NC Dinos could have resigned Rucinski, but it probably would have cost them their entire foreign player budget, which is meant to sign up to three players. They are the only team in the KBO not owned by a larger parent company. Sortable, downloadable KBO player stats for the 2022 season. Americans Aaron Brooks and Drew Ganon will help give the Tigers one of the better starting rotations in the KBO League. Like all professional sports leagues, several teams have been founded, disbanded, moved, or completely reformed over the course of the leagues history. 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). 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. The last time there was a Minor League season, in 2019, Kelenic slugged .540 across three levels total, including .542 at Double-A, the highest level he's made so far. You also have his name wrong. Take Merrill Kelly for example, whos serving as the de facto ace for the rebuilding Diamondbacks. . And though he showed some promise in 2020, a series of disastrous relief outings coupled with injuries the following season made any chance of him sticking in the Brewers rotation kaput. 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. In the 20 seasons since, the Wyverns have four Korean Series titles to their name, and have appeared in the Korean Series an additional 4 times. 15. At 26 years old, Cho has time to build up his stock, and hopefully regain some of his velocity along the way. A few seasons later, if he discovered the strength needed to throw at an increased effort throughout an entire season, that would explain why his velocity has trended up, not down. They often lost their best players to other teams or other leagues. Both Kelly and Wilson spent time in the major leagues, and both have had a lot of success with the Twins. By coming in first, the Bears secured a spot in the leagues final series called the Korean Series The Wyverns second-place finish allowed them to skip to what can be referred to as a semi-final called the Playoff Series. Due to their lengthy history, location in Seoul, prominent rivalry with their neighboring team, and recent dominance, the Doosan Bears are one of the most popular teams in South Korea. Before we begin on the team breakdowns, lets break down the KBO as a league. Koo looks like he could be the next great Korean starter to make the jump to MLB, but he needs to stay healthy to show teams he can handle a starters workload. While he once sported an elite 17% BB rate, Tae-kyun Kim was only able to play a total of 167 games between the 2017 and 2018 seasons. His previous work can be found at Prospects365 and Dodgers Digest. KBO Leaders Batting, Pitching. Instead, he solved whatever pitching problems he had with brute force: Nothing to see here, folks. He has impeccable control, with a walk rate hovering between 2 and 4% throughout the high minors. 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. The KBO is definitely a different league in terms of pitching results, so strikeout rates should be viewed a bit differently. Team Pitching Stats 2022, 2021, 2020 . He then spent the 2016 season still as a position player with NPBs Yakult Swallows for a brief 17 games. Likely not, as his days of 20+ HR seasons are in the past. After Oriental Brewery (OB) was sold to InBev, the Doosan group (who previously owned OB) changed the team name to the Doosan Bears in 1999. Android, Google Play, and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc. 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). The Tigers lost second baseman Ahn Chi-hong () to the Lotte Giants. 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. With the KBO de-juicing the ball in 2019, Yang Hyeon-jong had his best season since his MVP year. Pitchers. The Dinos purportedly have a reputation as an analytic-friendly team. Players to watch: Left-handed pitcher Chang-mo Koo, 23, is a prolific strikeout artist on the mound. Four years later, theres an argument to be made that he was the best starting pitcher during his time in Korea. Between 2005 and 2011, he never had an OPS below .800, and posted three seasons with an OPS above 1.000. 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? But when his teammate Hyun-Soo Kim left for the KBO, Wilson joined him, and hes been good. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. Also, for what its worth, they have the coolest name in the KBO. Earlier today, we took a look at some of the best and worst hitting performances from the first month of the KBO season. In fact, in every year of his six-year KBO career, he has either led the league in homers (five times) or finished second. He seems to be an important part of Giants history, and his story deserves attention from all baseball fans. Previously, this was determined by head-to-head record (hence why the Doosan Bears were declared regular-season champions in 2019 despite matching their 88-55 record with the SK Wyverns the Bears won the regular-season 16-game series 9-7). In 2019, they were ranked as the second most-popular team, but they were only one percent behind the Hanwha Eagles. Getting tickets for Giants vs Bears. Outside of electronics, Daegu is also a heavy textile town, with fashion also being one of the citys major industries. All UZR (ultimate zone rating) calculations are provided courtesy of Mitchel Lichtman. A total of 16 of 30 foreign players stayed in the KBO this year, one more than last year. in offense, but were also the third-best pitching team in the KBO, which fits nicely with the Rays balance of offense and pitching, even if the Rays arent quite as proficient on the offensive side of the ball. The 36-year-old will be holding a lineup together featuring American Preston Tucker as the second-best hitter now. The Pitcher List staff brings you the definitive guide to the KBO. KIM Kwang Hyun (SSG) 2.13 3. But the comparisons dont stop there, and they are not all rosy. The park replaced Daegu Baseball Stadium, which was the home of the Lions since their inception in 1982, and sat just 5,000 fans. Lively could certainly end up being the best pitcher for the Lions, and the entire league this season, and could make a return to the majors at some point. Hes essentially an ideal lead-off hitter, with a batting average last year that was good for 11th-best in the KBO. While only a decent source of power, the 32-year-old should remain a reliable source of hits in 2020, alongside stellar plate discipline, boasting an 8.4% strikeout rate and a 9.5% walk rate in 2019. Yang was poached from the Doosan Bears after 2018, and in 2019, he rewarded the Dinos by leading the KBO in WAR while slashing .354/.438/.574 all despite playing just 118 games. The Dinos have an assemblage of talent on their team perhaps led by Eui-ji Yang. 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. In the years since, the Tigers have won only four championships, in 1996, 1997, 2009, and 2017. 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. Sign up today to get access to insightful analysis for the discerning baseball fan. Is he going to hit for power in 20? Team Information; Player Search; Scoreboard; Daily Schedule; Team Standings Sanchez bounced around five different MLB farm systems before coming over to the KBO in 2018. The KIA Tigers arrived in Terry Park in Fort Myers, Florida, for spring training. The best players on both the San Francisco and Lotte Giants seem to be veterans mixed with some younger fringe players with some promise. Jeon Jun-woo was a sensation for the Giants the previous year, when he recorded 33 homers, a .992 OPS, and 5.9 WAR. Moon Kyeong Chan () stepped in as the closer last year and saved 24 games while compiling a 1.31 ERA. 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. Since 2000, both teams have made the playoffs more often than not. Thats the kind of power weve only seen out of the likes of Trout, Pujols, or Bonds. Since then, South Korea and its major professional league, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) have become important sources of talent for major league clubs. In 2019, their best pitcher was most likely Gwang hyun-Kim. 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. Other sources of offense for the 2020 Bears include their primary power source Jae Il Oh (leading the 2019 roster with 102 RBI, .495 SLG, and 21 HR, all of which rank in the top 10 of the league) and 2018 MVP Jae Hwan Kim, though he seems unlikely to repeat his three-year run from 2016-2018 where he assembled a 1.000+ OPS each season. Recently, theyve traded power for speed and aggression on the base paths. Today, the four teams in addition to the six above are: In addition to the KBO League, which represents the highest level of professional baseball in South Korea, the KBO also created a second-tier league in 1990 to serve as a farm system for the KBO League. Shortly after graduating high school, he debuted at the age of 18 with the KT Wiz, hitting 29 home runs en route to Rookie of the Year honors. 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. As for a 2020 outlook, the Cardinals are still a well-equipped club, but play in a highly competitive division. In addition, the Heroes finished first in offense, but were also the third-best pitching team in the KBO, which fits nicely with the Rays balance of offense and pitching, even if the Rays arent quite as proficient on the offensive side of the ball. OF. While he doesnt quite fit in with their youth movement, there is something to be said about having stability in the rotation, and Jung-hyun Baek should be able to provide that while the younger pitchers start to get their feet wet. Their last victory was in 2017. An inauspicious end to a great campaign for the SK Wyverns, but hope remains. 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! Since teams dont use foreign players to shore up their bullpens, homegrown pitching becomes important to be able to close out games. All KBO statistics courtesy of Statiz. Straily will return to Lotte again in 2021, and if he can demonstrate improved slider command he could be in line for a big league deal before long. In 2009, the league OBP was .358 compared to the 2019 OBP of .337. C. 1B. Naturally, 2020's gonna 2020 the NC Dinos and the Samsung Lions dealt with a rain delay early, while the Kia Tigers and Kiwoom Heroes had to wait through a fire delay. In his first three appearances following the injury he gave up 6 runs (4 earned) in just 1 1/3 innings and allowed a run in 5 of his first 7 appearances off the injured list. Won the first ever Korean baseball league championship. MyKBO , including an adorable robot named DomDoml, whose head was modeled after their stadium, the gorgeous Gocheok Sky Dome. KBO Rookie of the Year (2014), KBO League Golden Glove Award (2019) Its not a perfect fit, as theres no longer an aging slugger equivalent to Byung-Ho Park on the Rays, but otherwise its a really nice fit. There a few options here but its tough to not go with the guy who has hit over .300 for 10 consecutive seasons. So I scrapped the expansion team idea and came up with the St. Louis Cardinals. Itll be interesting to see if he can revitalize his game like so many former MLB-players before him. by Handedness, The As Signed the KBOs Best Starting Pitcher, JAWS and the 2023 Hall of Fame Ballot: Omar Vizquel, Reds Awaken with Trio of Pre-Christmas Transactions. As for our Wyverns? Their top pitcher is Aaron Brooks, who has a 2.76 ERA (7th in the KBO) and leads the KBO with an 11% hard-hit rate (among pitchers with at least 100 AB against them). 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. Yang Hyun-jong (Kia Tigers): The former first overall pick and 2017 Korean Series MVP has had a long and fairly successful KBO career (14 seasons despite being only 32!) His less serious work can be found on Twitter @justinochoi. The difference in 2020 was that he didnt seem to miss belt high quite as much, and the hitters were more willing to chase it out of the zone, and miss it more frequently in the zone. MLB fans will recognize Despaignes unique name, but he left behind forgettable performances on the hill outside of a strong rookie campaign in San Diego. Best Hitter: Hyun-Soo Kim or Chun-Woong Lee. in the league but lost in the first round to the NC Dinos. Each of our KBO picks will have a confidence rating alongside the analysis and pick. Their stadium Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park, but also referred to as Hanbat and Eagles Park is considered one of the most beautiful in the KBO and for good reason: Just look at the view. Just a 31-year-old pitcher upping his fastball velocity by a tick and a half by the time hes 34. some typos there..bibimap->bibimbap. Weather data provided by Weather. But for every Kelly or Flexen, theres someone like Josh Lindblom, who signed with the Brewers after two great seasons with the Doosan Bears. If Jokisch can continue to find success, and stay healthy (he dealt with a minor shoulder injury last year) he could find his way back to the Majors as teams are always looking for left-handed pitchers. Despite the injury, Cho set career bests with 33 saves and a 2.15 ERA. KBO 2022 Standings Win Matrix Updated Oct 11, 2022 8:00am Daegu is considered the southern hub of the Korean peninsula, with Seoul representing the central hub and Pyongyang the north. Thames hit .349/.457/.721 with 124 home runs during his three-year stint in the KBO. (Unofficial) KBO League stats, schedules, video links, live game day coverage and more. It has been quite an interesting career path for the South Korean product. Between the 2018 and 2019 seasons, though, the KBO de-juiced their ball and he responded by leading the league with 33 HR, 98 RBI, and 92 runs in a mere 122 games. While the rate stats have been impressive, Koos innings pitched have also dropped in the last few years. That means there are precedents we can consult. In 2019, the team finished with a 60-83 record, and eighth out of ten teams. Which, fine, I understand. Koo Chang-mo, NC Dinos you picked as best pitcher was in the bullpen half the year, thats why innings so low. Potential risk aside, Rucinski, by sharpening his command, adding velocity, and pitching deeper into games, blossomed into a viable big league starter. I highly suggest you go read up on him. . But after homers, Jeong really pulls away from the former major leaguer. Saupold has a four-pitch arsenal: a four-seamer (90-92 mph), cutter (87-89), curveball (79-81), and change-up (85-87). However, they face some serious obstacles with the loss of league star Josh Lindblom to the Milwaukee Brewers. Callis: Julio Rodriguez, OF, Mariners (2021 age: 20) Despite having the league ERA leader, the team finished below .500 and near the bottom of the KBO League standings. by Handedness. The soft-throwing lefty averages 89 on his fastball, and mixes in a knuckle-curve with late break, changeup and a slider that he can manipulate to add velocity and work as a cutter inside to righties. The biggest change, however, was in 2019, when the KBO de-juiced its baseball to decrease the coefficient of restitution (COR) to a level closer to that of the Japanese NPB. KBO TOP 5 ERA MORE+ 1. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. The 31-year-old left-hander was a force on the mound last year, starting 30 games and throwing 190.1 innings of 2.51 ERA ball. With Spring Training underway, baseball fans can look forward to enjoying more baseball in 2021 than we had in 2020. The As guaranteeing Rucinski just $3 million*, in my humble opinion, is a bona fide steal. The playoffs begin with the fourth- and fifth-place teams playing a best-of-three, with the fourth-place team starting with a built-in 1-0 advantage. He did so while routinely recording some of the best ERAs and FIPs in the league; Eric Jokisch and Casey Kelly occupy the top two spots for both metrics, but they dont have Rucinski beat by a large margin. but 2020 is shaping up to be a much-improved season. SUAREZ Albert (SAMSUNG) 2.49 5. The team fired their manager, Han-so Kim, a longtime Lions player and coach who spent his entire baseball career as a Lion, both as a player and a coach, save for one season as a coach with Japans Yomiuri Giants, so this certainly wasnt an easy decision for the team to make. 1. I love a good story, and its tough to beat the failed MLB outfielder turned elite KBO closer narrative. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. He features a deep . App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. The best video I could find of his pitching was from his 2018 debut: Itll be interesting to see if Brigham can replicate his 2019 season again, but has to assume that if he can keep his K/9 and his BB/9 at roughly the same levels, and the ball continues to be dead, then he should be Kiwooms best pitcher again in 2020 as well. The bad news: Since 2008, the Eagles have only qualified for the playoffs once. The Aussie righty debuted for the Eagles last year with a 3.51 ERA, a 3.49 FIP and a 6.30 K/9 (remember, the league average ERA was 4.17 and K/9 was 7.3). The team was formed in 2000 after the former team of the region, the Hyundai Unicorns, moved from Incheon to Suwon. Hands down. Rucinski throws a low 90s fastball with a cutter as his primary secondary pitch, and also incorporates a slider (with vertical break that looks curvy) and a splitter that can flash good drop and fade. The good news: that once was quite recent. Then, after making the playoffs two years in a row, they debuted Dongeuli in 2015, a pixie-like female mascot with batlike earflaps on her helmet aimed at female fans and children. Dan Straily (Lotte Giants) The Lotte Giants made a bit of a gamble last year on Dan Straily, as he was coming off a terrible 2019 MLB season, and they signed him to the max contract that a foreign player can sign in their first year in the KBO, at one year for $1 million. Not his zone rate, which remained essentially the same in each season. The Samsung Lions are a former powerhouse that has fallen on tough times in recent years. The owners of the team also own KT Rolster, one of the worlds top Starcraft e-sports teams. The velocity is in kph. The improvement showed in his stats too, as his ERA dropped from 5.20 to 3.00 (though his FIP just went from 4.06 to 3.73) and he raised his strikeout percentage by over 8 points from 20% to 29% (8.2 K/9 to 10.3). Each stadium has a speciality food associated with cheering. of coaching experience that has enshrined him in international baseball lore. Maddux is one of the most unique pitchers of all the greats. Yang is a veteran of the international baseball scene and is considered one of the best pitchers in the world. with enough epic bat flips to make your head explode with pure unadulterated baseball joy: I remember being so incredibly excited to see this bat-tossing machine take the U.S. by storm, but unfortunately, recognizing the lameness that permeates American baseball, we never got the bat flips that were promised. Woo-suk Go (LG Twins) Go (or Ko, depending on your source) has the typical fastball-slider combination that is common among relievers, and his fastball sat at 94 MPH, and touched 97 last year. Feb 2. AN Woo Jin (KIWOOM) 15 4. It's adjusted, so a wRC+ of 100 is league average, and 150 would be 50 percent above . While the KBO is known as a more offensive league, it's still had its fair share of excellent pitchers. At 22 years old, with four KBO seasons under his belt, Go is a player to watch down the road as a possible MLB bullpen arm. In 2019, the Giants struggled in all areas of the game. Its a fun team that seemingly uses every resource available to it to find success. Attendance was down for virtually every club in 2019. 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. 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. In the regular season, all games have a 12-inning limit. Capital-G God.) DH. In three MLB stints, William Cuevas could not get his walk rate under control, but hes found his command in the KBO, cutting a career MLB 6.85 BB/9 to 3.08 in the 2019 KBO season, to the tune of a 3.62 ERA and 1.17 WHIP over 184 innings. Former Mets Performing Well in Korea. His 7.39 K/9 and 2.61 BB/9 are typical of the KBO, and were really solid marks while his 0.28 HR/9 was unreal. Best Pitcher: Casey Kelly or Tyler Wilson. Lively is a pitcher who can certainly thrive in the KBO, as his good strikeout rates from his minor-league career did translate well to the KBO, with a 9.2 K/9 rate in his brief sample for the Lions. KBReport Hyun-Jin Ryu, Shin-Soo Choo and. Drew Rucinski (NC Dinos) The right-handed Rucinski is one of the older players on this list (only about a month younger than Straily), which may limit his contract options in the future, but he is nonetheless one of the best pitchers in the KBO. 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. Their team FIP was better than three other teams, and with the additions of Adrian Sampson and Dan Straily, they could move further up the leaderboard. With some exceptions, they are each fixtures in their respective leagues playoffs. While his power did take a massive step back in 2019, going from a homer every 20 plate appearances to one every 38 in his sophomore campaign, power fell across the KBO as the league de-juiced baseballs league-wide. In any case, the Wyverns and their fans are hoping for another excellent year out of their star third baseman. SO Hyeong Jun (KT) 13 TOP 5 SAVES MORE+ 1. Museums, palaces, temples, monuments, and numerous parks paint a wonderful picture of Seoul as a center for culture and sports. The Tigers have a team slugging % of .393 and they score 4.71 runs per game (1st. Alcantara finished the 2020 season with a 20-2 record and 2.54 ERA, winning the Choi Dong-won award as the KBO's best pitcher, and if he can build on his success in Japan a return to the Majors may not be far off. Like Grove, he didn't reach the majors until the age of 25, but he pitched into his 40s; sort of an early version of Warren Spahn. In 11 playoff games that season, he went 1-1 with one save and two holds, and posted a 3.14 ERA over 14.1 innings. Justin is a contributor at FanGraphs. Bit of a KBO newbie here, so please bear with me! Finally, in that same year, they also brought out Tuckdori, who was a former mascot years ago. The slight dip in production from 2018 to 2019 can mostly be attributed to the KBO de-juicing the ball. 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