Park Dong-won’s home run shot that stalled. Meanwhile, Choi Jung succeeded in catching up. The home run king is ‘absolutely unpredictable’.
LG Twins’ Park Dong-won, who led the league in home runs at the beginning of the season, slowed down a bit in June. He hit four home runs in April and nine in May alone. By May, he was leading the league with 13 home runs.
After hitting his 14th home run of the season on July 7 against the Kiwoom Heroes, Park went without a home run in his next nine games. Part 메이저놀이터 of this is due to his overwhelmingly good pace in May, and part of it is due to his recent struggles with wrist pain and enteritis. It’s not like his run production has dropped. He’s batting 3-for-6 in June and has been hitting consistently lately.
While Park’s home runs have slowed down, SSG Landers’ Choi Jung has moved into the lead. Choi has been on a better pace in June. After hitting four home runs in April and four in May, Choi has already hit six home runs in June. Starting with a two-homer game against the Samsung Lions on June 1, he has continued to produce home runs recently. On June 16, he hit his 14th home run of the season against the Lotte Giants, finally tying him with Park Dong-won for the team lead in home runs.
It’s a worthy rivalry. Park is trying to become the third catcher in KBO history to win the home run title. Only two other catchers, Lee Man-soo and Park Kyung-wan, have ever won the home run title, and another offensive catcher, Yang Ji (Doosan), has yet to do so.
Choi is already on his way to becoming a “Living Legend. With 10 or more home runs, he became the first player in KBO history to record 18 consecutive years of double-digit home runs. Choi has also won the home run title three times since his debut.
However, no one can rest easy. Other batters are also on fire. SSG’s Choi Joo-hwan is right behind Choi and Park with 12 home runs, while Hanwha’s Noh Si-hwan (11), Doosan Rojas (10), 메이저도메인 and Hanwha’s Chae Eun-sung (10) are also in double digits.
Last year’s home run race was dominated by Park Byung-ho (KT) throughout the season, as he was the only player to surpass the 30-homer mark and reclaimed the title with a final tally of 35. Second place went to Samsung Pirela with 28 homers and third to Choi Jung with 26. This year’s championship is expected to be a close one as there is no leader like Park Byung-ho last year.