DH. Drew Rucinski will be getting the ball on Opening Day, and thats because he was one of the best pitchers in the KBO last year. Thames hit .349/.457/.721 with 124 home runs during his three-year stint in the KBO. The city is about 238 kilometers, or about 150 miles away from Seoul. 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. Naver 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. Suwon, South Korea was previously home to the Hyundai Unicorns who were in the KBO from 1989 to 2007. Their mascot, Dandi the Tyrannosaurus, may just be the, They have three mascots, which you can see. The Bears also have two strong relievers who split saves nearly evenly in 2019: righty Hyoung Beom Lee, who finished with a strong 2.66 ERA, and lefty Deok Ju Ham, who notched a powerful 7.9 K/9 in 2019. There a few options here but its tough to not go with the guy who has hit over .300 for 10 consecutive seasons. 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. They scored fewer runs per game and allowed more runs per game than any team in the KBO. They were the first Korean baseball team to advance to the playoffs three years in a row, were an integral part of the national team that reached the WBC final four in 2006, and produced the first ever KBO player to go directly to the MLB: Hyun-jin Ryu. Its a league fueled by MLB-caliber players yearning to leave an impression, passionate fans, organizations hungry for championships and much more. Will he hit? Theyre used to being near the bottom of the league but are on the rise and could make a push to the top over the next few seasons. Now, lets talk about the Eagles. Of those two, only one posted a 3+ WAR: former Detroit Tigers prospect Saupold. Just a 31-year-old pitcher upping his fastball velocity by a tick and a half by the time hes 34. This immediately made me think of the Detroit Tigers. This was a difficult decision to make. For a team like the Lions thats trying to get younger, improvement and development in their youngsters will be crucial for their future. All UZR (ultimate zone rating) calculations are provided courtesy of Mitchel Lichtman. While the KBO is known as a more offensive league, it's still had its fair share of excellent pitchers. While his fastball averaged only 89 MPH last year, he was still highly effective in the KBO with his strikeout and walk rates both making substantial positive strides, and he posted better K% (29%) and BB% (5%) in 2020 than Hyun-jin Ryu did in his best KBO season. On the pitching side of things, the Wyverns lost a few key pieces during the offseason. 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. The velocity is in kph. Despite winning the inaugural championship of the KBO League, the Bears had only mediocre success for several decades after, winning twice more in 1995 and 2001. 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. Likely not, as his days of 20+ HR seasons are in the past. In 2019, the Tigers did not so well. Career. A good comp for Jun-woo is, ironically, South Korea native Shin-Soo Choo. Or consider Chris Flexen, whom the Mariners decided to trust based on two-thirds of a season. 15. 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. The Tigers, despite their success, were a team that often financially struggled. 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. The best walk-off interview I have ever seen. Their all-time winning percentage is .471, but they remain one of the most popular teams in the KBO. The NL Central crown is certainly possible, but not at all a lock. The Asian crisis of 1998 affected the team and caused Hiatai to sell the team to Kia. 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. Rucinsky might be more. Only two pitchers for the Eagles threw over 150 IP in 2019: Chad Bell (177.1) and Warwick Saupold (192.1). At 26 years old, Cho has time to build up his stock, and hopefully regain some of his velocity along the way. Who the best hitter on the Twins is depends on what youre looking for in a hitter. Hiwoom->Kiwoom, Your email address will not be published. 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. This surely played a part in their struggles last season, and unfortunately for them, Ruf is no longer in the league, as he was attempting to make a major league return in 2020, signing a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants and was perhaps playing his way to a roster spot with a 1.469 OPS through 28 spring at-bats prior to the shutdown. He, too, was pretty good in the KBO, but was nowhere near as great as Rucinski has been for the past few years. Now, we move on to the pitchers. The park replaced Daegu Baseball Stadium, which was the home of the Lions since their inception in 1982, and sat just 5,000 fans. 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. When he returned to the MLB, he had one of the most ridiculous Aprils in recent memory (.345/.466/.810, 11 home runs), before essentially becoming a solid platoon bat. They both found themselves in their respective leagues championships in only their fourth year of existence, but the similarities dry up there. Sang-woo Cho (Kiwoom Heroes) When I first saw Sang-woo Cho (also listed as Jo) pitch in 2019, he seemed to be MLB ready and the stats backed it up. Park Min-woo. The KBO League Kia Tigers (KIA ) are based in Gwangju. ESPN In 20 years of existence, the Wyverns have made it to the championship series eight times. The good news: that once was quite recent. Which, fine, I understand. First team to win the Pennant Race, Korean Series and Asian Series in the same year. All KBO statistics courtesy of Statiz. Upon returning to the KBO in 2018, though, he picked up right where he left off by blasting 43 home runs with an insane .345 AVG and 112 RBI in just 113 games. SUAREZ Albert (SAMSUNG) 2.49 5. Each of our KBO picks will have a confidence rating alongside the analysis and pick. He spent six years in the Cubs system as an outfielder, but never managed to break through to the big leagues. The Twins' offense ranked poorly across the board with the 8th best batting average, 8th most runs, 9th most hits, 9th best on-base percentage, etc. Updated: Thursday, March 2, 2023 3:23 AM ET, Park Factors I wanted to highlight the Wyverns status as an expansion team, so my mind turned to the Diamondbacks. Id legitimately consider taking him over Jordan Lyles or Kyle Gibson, both of whom signed for much more. Koo relies on his slider as his best breaking pitch, and pairs it with a splitter and a curveball to round out his repertoire. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. Their .340 winning percentage was below their expected winning percentage by .036 points (a league-worst .376). Still struggling with what team you would like to support? The team was formed in 2000 after the former team of the region, the Hyundai Unicorns, moved from Incheon to Suwon. A few years later, the Bears moved to Seoul, where theyve remained ever since, sharing their home stadium with another of the inaugural six (the LG Twins), establishing what is possibly the leagues biggest rivalry. Required fields are marked *. 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.. Instead, he solved whatever pitching problems he had with brute force: Nothing to see here, folks. 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. That type of control is comparable to Indians ace Shane Bieber. Thats the kind of power weve only seen out of the likes of Trout, Pujols, or Bonds. 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 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. There are quite a number of established players on the team, including one of the best pitchers and hitters in the league. In any case, the Wyverns and their fans are hoping for another excellent year out of their star third baseman. Below youll find a breakdown of all 10 teams including each teams best hitter, pitcher, some fun facts and MLB comps. Rucinski also pitched very well in the Korean Series, winning Games 1 and 6, while earning a save in Game 4. Woo-jin Ahn (Kiwoom Heroes) The right-handed Ahn is the youngest relief pitcher on this list, at just 21 years old, but he is also the tallest at 63. ESPN. Finally, in that same year, they also brought out Tuckdori, who was a former mascot years ago. KBO Schedule & Statistics by MyKBO.net | MyKBO Stats MyKBO Stats KBO Schedules, Video Links, Live Game Day Coverage, Statistics and More Today's KBO Games No games today. The American was great in his first season, recording a 3.13 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP, and his performance in 2020 was even better. It's adjusted, so a wRC+ of 100 is league average, and 150 would be 50 percent above . In 1996, they were known as the Hiatai Tigers, and were sold in Kia in 2001. In his rookie season in 2015, he had a .349/.417/.534 slash line and followed it up with a .343/.420/.547 line at just 23 years old, and looked like one of the bright young hitters in the league, as he followed up his first two strong seasons with two consecutive .900-plus OPS seasons, before he saw a decline in 2019. In 2019 with the Cubs, he posted a 107 wRC+ in Triple-A, and could end up being the best position player on the Giants at only 28 years old. I believe they play twice on April 1 + 2 at Jamsil. This is awesome. 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. Meanwhile, Wilson spent a few years floating around the Orioles organization, never really doing a ton. Despite the low strikeout totals, Jokisch did receive interest from MLB teams over the offseason before resigning with Kiwoom. They were forced to extend their stay in the USA because of the extent of the coronavirus in South Korea. 2023 stats and schedules updated daily. This achieved its goal of increasing strikes and making the league more pitcher-friendly, as well as shortening the average length of games. 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. Replacing him is Sam-young Heo, a former pitcher who made only four appearances for the team in the mid-1990s, but has since been a part of the teams training and support staff, and more recently, was the head of the teams data analysis department. KBO starting pitchers are some of the best in the world and can make a huge difference in a game's outcome. It was here that the 2019 season came to an end for our bipedal dragons, as they were promptly swept in three games by the Kiwoom Heroes. There have been a lot of transactions this past week. Its one of my favorite stories in baseball. in the league but lost in the first round to the NC Dinos. pic.twitter.com/iThnlhYhj5, Michael Ajeto (@dysthymikey) January 6, 2020. 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. The franchise is less than a decade old and has played just five seasons in the KBO. . Many believe that Erik Jokisch is the best pitcher in the KBO and a quick look at his stats since his arrival shows that his case is strong. Bit of a KBO newbie here, so please bear with me! 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). A salary cap will go into effect in 2023. Much like the Redbirds, the Wyverns have been incredibly successful over the past two decades. Despite the deadened ball, he still had a .958 OPS and nearly half his hits went for extra bases. 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. Top 10 NPB Pitchers For 2021 Baseball International 3.5K views 1 year ago Critiquing Every Korean Baseball (KBO) Stadium - Amazing Ballparks 119K views 2 years ago Craziest "1 in a Trillion". 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. 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. The analysis and pick are quite a number of established players on the Twins is on... 1989 to 2007 did not so well winning Games 1 and 6 while! 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