Heroes are running away with June’s top pitchers and hitters.
Kiwoom Heroes’ Lee Jung-hoo and Choi Won-tae have been in top form in June.
Lee has completely erased his early season slump. After struggling mightily in April with a 2-for-1 record, Lee rebounded in May with a 3-for-5 mark, and in June, his batting average has soared to a whopping 4-for-4. His batting average in June is second only to Lotte Giants’ Jeon Jun-woo (.407), and he is third in hits with 23. Lee is first in slugging percentage with 5.7, second in on-base percentage with 7.1, and first in OPS with 1.226. He is sixth in RBI with 13 and 10th in runs scored with 12.
With a WAR of 1.55, he is first among hitters and first among two-hitters. The second best hitter is NC Dinos’ Son As-seop, who has a WAR of 1.13. There’s a big gap between him and Lee Jung-hoo.
Second overall and first in pitching is Kiwoom. Choi Won-tae has been in ace mode, healing the wounds of Eric Yokish’s poor performance and injury.
In three appearances in June, Choi is 2-0 with a 0.87 ERA. He has pitched 20⅔ innings, allowing just two runs. Choi, who ranks second overall with a WAR of 1.49, is ahead of foreign aces such as LG Adam Plutko (1.34) and Doosan Raul Alcantara (1.24).
After giving up one run on two hits (one home run) in 6⅔ innings against the SSG Landers on April 2, Choi picked up the win against the LG Twins on April 8 with seven innings of five-hit ball, and again against the KIA Tigers on April 14 with seven innings of eight-hit ball. The fact that he pitched so well against strong teams makes him even more impressive.스포츠토토
Every month, Shell Korea recognizes pitchers and batters who have performed well to help their teams win as the Shell Helix Players. The program utilizes WAR (Wins Above Replacement), one of the most objective metrics. In April, LG’s Im Chan-kyu and Park Dong-won were named the top pitchers and batters, followed by NC’s Eric Peddie and Samsung’s Kang Min-ho in May.
It will be interesting to see if Lee Jung-hoo and Choi Won-tae keep the momentum going in June.