When the world feels like it’s upside down, remembering to celebrate Mother’s Day for so many underrated heroes of our families would be remiss. If you cannot see your Mom due to quarantine rules, be sure to call or facetime in order to say hello and I love you. Any act of kindness does not get overlooked by a Mom. Same goes for my Mom, so thanks for all you do for my son and myself.
As for the KBO, Sunday’s action featured a shutout anchored by an imported pitcher, bullpens dissolving leads and home runs:
#KBO de-juiced baseballs before last season and total number of HRs went down significantly in ‘19. However, it appears that hitters have made some adjustments in their swings. There have 17 hrs just today in 5 games. #KBODK
— Daniel Kim ??? ? (@DanielKimW) May 10, 2020
News of the “de-juiced” baseballs last year may force the hitters in the KBO to adapt trying to create more lift in an effort to produce higher launch angles. Long known as a league favoring contact, it will be interesting to see if fly ball rates increase compared to ground ball percentage in 2020. As to the bullpen issue, the NC Dinos coughed up seven earned runs in the eighth inning allowing the lead to evaporate resulting in its first loss this season. Hanwha’s relievers took over with two runners on and no outs in the seventh inning leading to five runs and blowing a win chance for Warwick Saupold. Doosan eventually emerged victorious but its bullpen ceded six earned runs over the last five innings of an 11 inning game versus the KT Wiz. As for the Wiz, its relievers yielded five earned runs in five innings of work as well. Here’s a couple of takes about the KBO’s volatile high leverage late innings:
These #KBO bullpen innings can be painful to watch. Nibbling is considered a ‘strategy’ in KBO and will keep pitching around as long as they can. #KBODK
— Daniel Kim ??? ? (@DanielKimW) May 10, 2020
And, this from the Cespedes Family BBQ account:
KBO bullpens are like watching 8 fernando rodney experiences consecutively
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) May 10, 2020
At least Hyun Yang of the Kiwoom Heroes notched a save working around two hits with a strikeout and Woo-seok Ko of the LG Twins recorded a save giving up two hits, an earned run, struck out one plus hit a batter during his rocky outing. Here’s the Round Up of the KBO highlights from Sunday:
Starting Pitcher Spotlight
Although Dan Straily did not garner a win in his first KBO outing, he turned in the best start on Sunday keeping the Lotte Giants undefeated:
What a start from Dan Straily of the Lotte Giants.
— Connor Newcomb (@ConnorNewcomb_) May 10, 2020
7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 11 K, 0 BB
He was electric today. Here's all 11 strikeouts for the former MLBer. pic.twitter.com/ZvM7esALFJ
Straily worked on elevating his fastball last year which unlocks his change-up and slider down in the zone. This could play well in the KBO as evidenced in the video. He tossed seven shutout innings on 94 pitches allowing only three hits with 11 strikeouts.
Hyun-jong Yang also notched his first win of the 2020 season working six innings giving up four hits, two earned runs and a walk with three strikeouts for the Kia Tigers.
Perhaps deserving a better fate, Warwick Saupold faced two hitters in the seventh inning after firing six shutout innings. But, both hitters reached base in the seventh then Saupold departed. After both players scored, his line finished respectably with Saupold yielding five hits, three runs (two earned) and a walk with five strikeouts in a no-decision.
Not a dominating performance, but Young-gyu Kim logged five innings ceding eight hits and three earned runs with four strikeouts in a no-decision. He left with the NC Dinos ahead 7-3 but an implosion by his bullpen resulted in a win evaporating.
Hitter Highlights
Doosan Bears
Playing a Doosan stack proved chalky but profitable on Sunday. Doosan scored 13 runs on 18 hits with a Fantasy Alarm playbook call coming to fruition on a Jose Miguel Fernandez home run:
Don't know that you guys are keeping track but Jose Miguel Fernandez has another multi-hit game on his hands. Currently 3-3 on the day with this 3 run shot. His 1st HR of 2020. #KBO #DoosanBears pic.twitter.com/1f551qrQgQ
— KBO Collections (@kbocollections) May 10, 2020
Fernandez finished 4-for-6 with two runs, a double, his first home run of the 2020 season and four RBI. Here’s how his teammates also fared:
Jae-il Oh (1B) - Homered to tie the game in the bottom of the 10th helping the Bears keep the game alive leading to an eventual win. Oh also walked in six plate appearances.
Jae-hwan Kim (OF) - Launched his second home run of the year, a grand slam no less.
Kyoung-min Hur (3B) - Went 3-for-6 with two runs and two RBI.
KT Wiz
An explosion by the Wiz still resulted in a loss to Doosan but its young hitter continues to rake:
Kang Baek-ho with a monster 442 ft HR for his 2nd of the season. This young guy is a beast. Keep an eye on him. #KBO #KtWiz pic.twitter.com/SmmC1oidiX
— KBO Collections (@kbocollections) May 10, 2020
This marks Baek-ho Kang’s second home run and he finished with two RBI along with a walk. Other performances of note from the Wiz include:
Jae-gyun Hwang (3B) - Racked up three hits in six at-bats including his first home run.
Sung-woo Jang (C) - Drove in five with two hits in three at-bats and hit his first home run of 2020.
Kia Tigers
With pressure mounting on the team for its second win, Preston Tucker made some waves in the KBO and on live TV in the United States on Saturday Night Live:
don't think i ever expected korean baseball or preston tucker to end up on snl, but these are weird times pic.twitter.com/la5L0plt1S
— joon lee (@joonlee) May 10, 2020
Despite our own Jennifer Piacenti disliking the term “oppo taco”, the former Astro Tucker seems to prefer the delicacy:
Another Oppo ???? for Preston Tucker to give the Kia Tigers the lead in the 3rd pic.twitter.com/uMzcsmvROB
— Connor Newcomb (@ConnorNewcomb_) May 10, 2020
Tucker hit two opposite field shots among his five hits on Sunday in as many at-bats driving in six runs during a blowout win in Samsung. Through six contests, Tucker’s hit three home runs all to the opposite field. His teammates also pitched in:
Sun-bin Kim (2B) - Recorded three hits in five at-bats with three runs, a double and three RBI.
Won-joon Choi (OF) - Batting ninth, went 2-for-3 with two runs, a double, two RBI and a walk.
LG Twins
Even though the NC Dinos put a southpaw on the mound, Roberto Ramos came through with a two home run game pacing the Twins to a comeback win:
Roberto Ramos with his 1st and 2nd career #KBO HRs in the same game. Here is #2. #LgTwins pic.twitter.com/SwdeFCTwRL
— KBO Collections (@kbocollections) May 10, 2020
Ramos makes for an interesting gamble as an import in the KBO. His power plays in the ballparks and his team owns high expectations as Ramos adapts to the pitching:
Some #KBO thoughts from Sunday: Lotte Giants have won 5 straight games to start a season for the 1st time since 2013. They may still break your heart. Dan Straily with 7 shutout innings, 11 Ks vs. SK Wyverns for his first KBO win
— Jeeho Yoo (@Jeeho_1) May 10, 2020
It remains to be seen, but Ramos will gain more acclaim in KBO DFS with performances like this one. With the Twins plating 10 runs, here’s two other players of note from this contest:
Eun-sung Chae (OF) - Hit his first home run of the season among his two hits driving in three runs.
Kang-nam Yoo (C) - Recorded three hits in four at-bats with his first home run and three RBI.
NC Dinos
Scored six runs in the first but ended up with its first loss will be a tough one for the NC Dinos to swallow. Especially if catcher Eui-ji Yang’s injury lingers. He went 2-for-5 with a run and two RBI but left the game walking with a limp. Sung-bum Na (OF) bounced back with three hits, two runs and an RBI. NC needs him to heat up with injuries up and down the lineup.
Hanwha Eagles
Jared Hoying (OF) - Broke the seal of his 2020 season launching his first home run among two hits with two runs and two RBI.
Kiwoom Heroes
Ji-young Lee (C) - Went 2-for-4 with two runs, a double and a triple.
Lotte Giants
During 172 career MLB games, Dixon Machado hit two home runs in over 500 plate appearances. On Sunday, Machado crushed his third KBO home run in only his fifth contest:
A 2 run shot for @MachadoDixon. His 3rd HR of the season and puts him in a tie for the early #KBO HR lead with Han Dong-min. #LotteGiants pic.twitter.com/4lN1mP9K0X
— KBO Collections (@kbocollections) May 10, 2020
Machado finished 1-for-3 with two RBI staying hot for the undefeated Giants:
5-0. Top of the league standings. #KBO #LotteGiants pic.twitter.com/Zz5WWPJA0q
— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) May 10, 2020
Samsung Lions
Dong-yeop Kim (DH) - Blasted his second home run of the season driving in one for the Lions in a loss.
Won-seok Lee (3B) - Went 1-for-4 with his first home run, a solo shot.
Monday represents an off day for the KBO, James Grande and myself. With this in mind, here’s the updated standings:
On Tuesday here’s the match-ups of the next three-game series:
Kia Tigers at Hanwha Eagles
KT Wiz at NC Dinos
Doosan Bears at Lotte Giants
SK Wyverns at LG Twins
Samsung Lions at Kiwoom Heroes
Until Tuesday, here’s some fun sights courtesy of the KBO starting with this montage of the Dinos mascots:
NC Dinos with a bat flip HR of their own. pic.twitter.com/PI2asfgQ1U
— Matthew Reichbach (@fbihop) May 10, 2020
Dan Straily keeping his family close to his thoughts across the Pacific Ocean:
Here's Dan Straily drawing the initials of his late grandfather in the dirt on the pitchers mound, which he does before every start.
— Connor Newcomb (@ConnorNewcomb_) May 10, 2020
Great story about it from @Jeeho_1 : https://t.co/ATygLHghUn pic.twitter.com/HJHGy9x7J1
And, if you see a patch on the LG Twins jersey, here it is:
If you were wondering what the patch is on the sleeve of LG's jersey... https://t.co/PyHbh6vGby
— Dan Kurtz (@MyKBO) May 10, 2020
It’s been nice seeing live baseball on television and with the MLB starting to bargain for a potential 80-game season, hope remains alive. Call or hug your Mom, keep those you love close and enjoy the day Fantasy Alarm family. Until Tuesday, be well.
Statistical Credits
myKBOstats.com
Fangraphs.com