The KBO League has 11 hitters with 20 home runs, and the first 20 home runs in both leagues and 30 home runs are missing after 95 games of Murakami 'Monster'Murakami
Aug 04, 2024
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Home runs have exploded this year. Until the 3rd, 11 players, including Noh Si-hwan and Koo Ja-wook (Samsung), reached 20 home runs. Kim Do-young (KIA Tigers), who hit 29, also deserves to aim for more than 30 and up to 40.
There are two players who stand out on the home run rankings. They are Davison, the No. 1 home run player, and Mal Rojas Jr. (KT Wiz), the No. 3 player. Rojas hit 25 home runs in 103 games.
Davison, who hit 19 as a member of the Hiroshima Carp last year, came to the KBO League and saw an increase in home runs. Rojas hit .220 (82 for 372) with 17 homers and 48 RBIs for the Hanshin Tigers from 2021 to 2022. He struggled due to the strong pitching power of Japanese professional baseball. If you look at the number of home runs of the two players, you can see the difference in the level of the league between Korea and Japan.
The first 20 home run hitters of the season came out in Japanese professional baseball, where the strong 'throwth hitter' was driven. Yakult Swallows' 'Monetaka Murakami (24) hit his 20th home run in an away game against the Yomiuri Giants on the 3rd. He added a home run in seven games and 27 at-bats.
At the top of the first inning, when the score was 0-0, Haruto Inoue, the left-hander of the Yomiuri Giants, hit a fastball with a speed of 144 kilometers per hour thrown at the 1S to send him to the stands in the middle of the outfield at the Tokyo Dome. Murakami said he felt good the moment he hit the ball.
He joined as a rookie in 2018 and hit 20 home runs for six consecutive years since 2019. I hit 36 in my second year of pro in 2019, 28 in 2020, 39 in 2021, 56 in 2022, and 31 in 2023.
He rewrote the history of Japanese baseball in 2022. Beyond legendary home run king Sadaharu Oh (Wang Jeong-gi, chairman of Softbank Hawks), Japanese
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It slowed down after tying for first place in home runs in the Central League in 2021 and setting a new home run record in 2022. He finished second to Kazuma Okamoto (28), the fourth batter of the Yomiuri Giants who hit 41 home runs last year.
He is the fourth Yakult player to hit 20 home runs for six consecutive years. He was the second to reach 20 home runs first after 2021 when he tied for first place in home runs. Murakami said he is paying attention to weight management in the summer heat.
He widened the gap with Okamoto, who has been competing for home runs for the past three years, to three. As of the 3rd, Taylor Austin (Yokohama BayStars) and Okamoto are tied for second with 17, followed by Shugo Maki (Yokohama) with 16.
In the Pacific League, Softbank Hawks infielder Hotaka Yamakawa hits 19 to lead the league. Yamakawa has hit four home runs in the last six games and is the lone top-ranked player. It seems likely that he will be the third home run king after 2018-2019 and 2022.
Gregory Polanco (Chiba Lotte Marines) has 16 and Kondo Genske (Softbank) has 15. Polanco and Kondo tied for first place in home runs last year. In both leagues, former home run kings lead the race.
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Reporter Min Chang-ki huelva@sportschosun.com
huelva@sportschosun.com
