SEOUL– Someone apparently forgot to tell Park Byung-ho this isn’t 2015 anymore.
Park, the veteran slugger for the KT Wiz, leads the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) in home runs this year with 13 after 37 games, his latest bomb coming Tuesday night. Park is five ahead of Han Dong-hui of the Lotte Giants and Kim Hyun-soo of the LG Twins.
That’s not all: Park is also tops with a .606 slugging percentage, second with 35 RBIs and fifth with a .951 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS).
leave opponents and teammates alike stunned.
In that 2015 season, Park homered once every 11.7 plate appearances. So far this season, he has been going deep once every 11.4 plate appearances, putting him on pace for 50 home runs with 106 games left on the season.
With so much more baseball to play this year, it’s perhaps unrealistic to expect Park to keep his current pace and reach the half-century mark again. But Park has a strong shot at claiming his sixth career home run crown after doing so from 2012 to 2015 and again in 2019.
Lee Jong-yeol, a color commentator for the cable station SBS Sports who called Tuesday’s Twins-Wiz game, said Park has seemed much more comfortable in the box this year than in the recent past.
“I think he has been able to get his timing down on different pitches much better this year,” Lee said. “His swing is quicker and more precise. And he is as strong as ever.”
Park has been carrying the offensive load for the banged-up Wiz, currently without two hitters who were supposed to surround Park in the heart of the lineup. First baseman Kang Baek-ho and outfielder Henry Ramos are both out with broken toes. KT manager Lee Kang-chul said Tuesday he expects both players to return in about three weeks.
Source: Yonhap News Agency