[KBO 정규리그 결산] ② ‘Doctor K’ Miranda… Lee Jung-hoo’s first rich batting king

Choi Dong-won’s ‘immortal record’ Miranda, most striking out 225 in a season

‘0.360 batting average’ Lee Jung-hoo, the world’s first ‘rich batting king’

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Chang-yong = The 2021 season of professional baseball, which will be remembered for a long time due to the highest ranking competition, has several new histories written in major titles.

Doosan Bears’ foreign pitcher Ariel Miranda broke the record for most strikeouts in a season of the late Dong-won Choi, a ‘dishonest pitcher’.

Miranda accumulated 225 strikeouts in the season and conquered a height that no one had climbed for 36 years since Choi Dong-won (223 strikeouts) in 1984.

After ending her career in the American Major Leagues at the end of the 2018 season, Miranda played for the Japanese professional baseball SoftBank Hawks and last year played for Taiwanese professional baseball.

There is a strong awareness that Taiwanese professional baseball is one step lower than the KBO league, and expectations for Miranda, who signed a relatively cheap $800,000 contract, were not high.

But when I opened the lid, Miranda was an elite ace.

Miranda was tied for 4th with 14 wins (5 losses), so the Triple Crown (wins, strikeouts, ERA) award was canceled, but she won two trophies in strikeouts and an ERA (2.33).

In the KBO League, only three players have achieved the pitching triple crown: Seon Dong-yeol (1986, 1989, 1990, 1991), Ryu Hyun-jin (2006), and Yoon Seok-min (2011). There are no foreign pitchers yet.

Eric Yokishi (Kiwoom Heroes) and David Buchanan (Samsung Lions), who had 16 wins side by side, were named in the Most Wins list.

Oh Seung-hwan (Samsung), the ‘final boss,’ returned to the king of salvation. He regained the throne after 9 years since 2012 by harvesting 44 saves.

Oh Seung-hwan, born in 1982, surpassed Son Seung-rak (then Nexen Heroes, 46 saves) at the age of 31 in 2013, making him the oldest season saver ever of 40.

Hyeon-sik Jang of the KIA Tigers was the first in the club to become the club’s first hold king with a 34 hold.

Hyunsik Jang earned 11 holds in October alone. Even when KIA’s chances of advancing to the postseason have disappeared, controversy has been constantly raised over Jang Hyun-sik’s overuse, who always starts on the pitch in winning matches.

In the batting king category, which received the most attention, Lee Jeong-hoo (Kiwoom) won his first personal title with a batting average of 0.360, beating Jeon Jun-woo (0.348, Lotte Giants) and Kang Baek-ho (0.347, kt wiz).

As Lee Jung-hoo took the batting king after 5 years of debut, an unprecedented ‘rich batting king’ was born in the history of world baseball.

His father, Lee Jong-beom, coach of the LG Twins, wore the Haitai Tigers uniform in 1994 when he was 24 years old, and took the overwhelming first place with a batting average of close to 40,000 (0.393).

There has never been a case in which a father and son became the top hitters for generations, not only in domestic professional baseball, but also in Japanese professional baseball, which has a longer history than Korea, and in the major leagues.

In 2018, the second year of his debut, Lee Jung-hoo received a lot of attention for his potential as ‘Rich Hitting King’. They competed for the batting title until the end of the season, but ended up finishing the season in 3rd place (0.355).

Since then, Jung-hoo Lee, who has grown a step further, has led the team to dramatic ‘Autumn Baseball’ advancement with a batting bat of 50% (16 hits at 32), 2 home runs and 12 RBIs in the last 7 games of the season.

Choi Jeong (SSG Landers), who reached the 400-home run record for the second time at the end of the season, recaptured the home run king for the first time in four years since 2017.

Choi Jeong-eun, who led the home run king race by hitting 20 home runs in the first half, surpassed Na Seong-beom (33 home runs) and Aaron Altair (32 home runs, NC Dinos) with 35 home runs.

Last year, captain Yang Eui-ji, who led the NC’s first integrated championship, took two trophies in RBI (111) and slugging percentage (0.581).

Kim Hye-seong of Kiwoom became the stolen base king with 46 stolen bases. LG Hong Chang-gi beat KT Kang Baek-ho (0.450) with an on-base percentage of 0.456 by a narrow margin. Koo Ja-wook (Samsung), who recorded 107 points, took the top score.

Lotte captain Jun-woo Jeon took his second personal most hits in 2018 with 192 hits.

changyong@yna.co.kr

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2021/10/31 17:15 Send