Sluggers on Fire in Home Run Race

By Yoon Chul

Staff Reporter

Korean baseball fans may see a new home run king producing more than 40 dingers this year.

Each team has played 13 or 14 games, and new sluggers as well as former power hitters have been heating up the race.

Former Major Leaguer Choi Hee-seop of the Kia Tigers has taken center stage, re-gaining his power stroke and leading the league with five homers.

LG Twins big bopper Roberto Petagine, a former home run king in the Central League in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), also shared first place.

Both have failed to show their prowess in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).

Choi only generated seven homers in his league debut year, 2007, and showed poor performance after only hitting six last season.

But determined Choi, who played for the Chicago Cubs, Florida Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers in his four-year big league career, fixed his swing after losing 10 kilograms.

``Advice from batting coach Hwang Byung-il has helped me a lot. And I study a lot about the pitching patterns of Korean pitchers.

``I don't worry about my number of strikeouts. Having strikeouts can also mean you are producing lots of homers. I'm not afraid of it.''

Like Choi, Petagine had a difficult first season in 2008, sending only seven balls over the fence during the entire season. But the Venezuelan has gotten back on track, with the Twins slugger hitting five homers, including three homers in three consecutive at-bats, so far this year.