SSG Landers’ foreign-born slugger Guillermo Heredia is on pace for a season-ending batting title.메이저놀이터
Heredia went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs against the Hanwha Eagles of the Shinhan Bank 2023 KBO League at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on April 6.
Despite SSG’s 5-6 loss in 11 extra innings, Heredia still showed off his hot bat.
Heredia is batting a whopping 5-for-15 in seven games since returning from a 30-day left thigh injury last month. In four of those seven games, he had three-hit games.
With a .346 batting average on the season, Heredia is first in the league in batting average and is on pace for a batting title in his debut season in the KBO. Heredia has a simple swing, and he has the ability to hit both fastballs and changeups.
Based on his current batting pace, Heredia has the best chance of becoming a batting champion.
NC Dinos’ Son As-seop celebrates at first base after hitting a double with runners on second and third in the sixth inning of the baseball game between NC Dinos and Samsung Lions of the Shinhan Bank SOL 2023 KBO League at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, South Korea, on June 6. June 6, 2023. lmy@newsis.com
The only other foreign batters in the KBO to win the batting title were Cliff Broomba of the Hyundai Unicorns in 2004 and Eric Theems of the NC Dinos in 2015.
NC’s Son As-seop is also looking to pick up the pace and win his first batting title.
He had a strong month of August with a .373 batting average, and his September batting average is also high at .353. His .337 batting average for the season ranks second.
While he’s dropped to second place due to Heredia’s recent batting surge, Son has the potential to be a batting champion because of his ability to drive in runs.
With 2,375 career hits, Son is on pace to become the second player in KBO history to reach the 2,400-hit plateau after Park Yong-taek (2,504).
Hong Chang-ki (LG Twins, batting .333) and Koo Ja-uk (Samsung Lions, batting .332) have also been consistently among the top hitters in the league and will be looking for their first batting titles.
LG Twins’ Hong Chang-ki, first baseman, celebrates after hitting a game-winning single during the eighth inning of the KBO baseball game between the KT Wiz and LG Twins at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Hong has been hitting well of late, going 11-for-22 in his last five games. Hong also has a strong plate discipline. She has the most walks in the league (71) and leads the league in on-base percentage (.448).
Guzauk has slowed down a bit recently. While he had a strong .340 batting average through August, he has struggled in September, going just 3-for-17.
However, he turned things around on September 6 against the Lotte Giants, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs, including a game-winning two-run double. Koo is once again on an upward batting curve.