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| Choi Jeong of the SK Wyverns hits a two-run home run during his team's Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League game against the Nexen Heroes at Incheon SK Happy Dream Park, Tuesday. / Courtesy of SK Wyverns |
With no Eric Thames in this year's Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League, Choi Jeong of the SK Wyverns leads the home run race with nine long balls.
The 30-year-old third baseman led the league in home run for the first time last year with 40 homers, being atop with former NC Dinos first basemen Thames, who now plays for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Aiming to become a home run leader for the second consecutive season, Choi is already off to a hot start, belting three home runs during the past three games. He is followed by three hitters with six home runs -- Lee Dae-ho of the Lotte Giants, Xavier Scruggs of the NC Dinos and his teammate Han Dong-min.
It is too early to make a conclusion, but Choi may hit up to 65 home runs by the end of the season if he keeps continuing to produce long balls at this pace.
Thanks to the tremendous performance of Choi, his team is leading the league in home runs (34), RBIs (106) and runs (109). Though the Incheon-based team was off to an awful start, taking six consecutive losses from the beginning, it now shares third place with the LG Twins and the KT Wiz in the standings with 11 wins and nine losses.
Beginning from Tuesday, the Wyverns will play a three-game series with the Twins at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. It remains to be seen whether the Wyverns with their strong hitting can overcome the Seoul-based team which has the league's best team ERA of 2.73.
In Gwangju, 320 kilometers south of Seoul, the league-leading Kia Tigers (14 wins and six losses) will host a three-gamer against the cellar dwelling Samsung Lions, who are struggling in deep mud (three wins, two draws and 15 losses) beginning Tuesday.
The second place Dinos will host the Wiz at its home Masan Baseball Stadium in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, for a three-game series beginning Tuesday. The defending champion Doosan Bears (9-1-10), who now rank seventh, will have an away series against the ninth place Nexen Heroes (8-0-12) at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul beginning Tuesday.
The sixth-place Giants (10-0-10) will host the eighth place Hanwha Eagles (9-0-11) at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan. The Giants were off to good start recording seven wins and three losses in the first 10 games but their record is exactly inverse for the next 10 games, winning only three and losing seven.
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