Heredia goes 15-for-30 in seven games after returning from injury
Son As-seop batting .337, Hong Chang-ki .333, and Koo Ja-uk .332 to challenge for batting title
By Moon Sung-dae Reporter = SSG Landers’ foreign hitter Guillermo Heredia is on track to win the batting title at the end of the season.
Heredia went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs in an away game against the Hanwha Eagles of the 2023 Shinhan Bank Solar 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.
Heredia has raised his season batting average to .346, which ranks first in the league and puts him in line 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.
At his current hitting pace, Heredia has the most potential to be a batting champion.
The only other foreign hitters 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, behind only Park Yong-taek (2,504).
Hong Chang-ki (LG Twins, 0.333) and Koo Ja-uk (Samsung Lions, 0.332) have also been consistently ranked among the top batting averages and will be looking for their first batting titles.스포츠토토
Hong Chang-ki has been hitting well, going 11-for-22 in his last five games. Hong also has an excellent 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.