Park Dong-won’s home run barrage continues unabated. After hitting just four home runs in 25 games in April, he has nine in 21 games in May. That’s double-digit home runs by himself, outpacing veteran home run hitters like Ki Rah-sung.
As of Sept. 29, Park has hit 13 home runs in all but one of LG’s 47 games, giving him a four-game lead in the Home Run Derby, ahead of Choi Joo-hwan (SSG Landers), Jose Rojas (Doosan Bears) and Noh Si-hwan (Hanwha Eagles – nine).
Veteran home run hitters Choi Jung (SSG) has eight, Yang Seok-hwan (Doosan), who had a scary April, has seven, and last year’s home run king Park Byung-ho (KT Wiz) has just three.
Most of all, LG’s lead has been fueled by the Altoran-like home runs of Park Dong-won.
In four games in April, only one game was won with a home run by Park. He lost all three games. This was enough to jinx the team’s chances of losing on days when Park hit a home run.
However, this April nightmare (?) was broken in May.
Park started his “brilliant May” with a two-run home run against the Changwon NC Dinos on May 3 that sank the KBO’s best left-hander, Koo Chang-mo, and from then on, he hit nine home runs in seven games, including two multi-homer games, all of which LG won. Or, more accurately, seven games in a row.
Conversely, while LG went 15-5-1 in May (a .750 winning percentage), on the days that Park did not hit a home run, LG also lost.
It’s worth noting that all nine of Park’s May home runs came on the same day.
After hitting his fifth home run of the season on the third day of May, he was forced to take three days off due to rain, but he overtook Yang Seok-hwan for the home run lead with a multi-homer game against Doosan in Jamsil on the seventh, and then activated the home run gun against Kiwoom in Jamsil on the ninth to hit home runs in three consecutive games.
After being quiet for the next four games, Park Dong-won’s home run total reached double digits for the first time with two consecutive home runs against Daegu Samsung Electronics on the 14th and Jamsil KT on the 16th, followed by a multi-homer game against SSG in Munhwa on the 25th after a seven-game hiatus, and his 13th home run of the season against KIA in Gwangju on the 26th, his third consecutive game with a home run in May.
At this rate, he’ll have 37 at this point. 토토사이트
So far, Park’s 22 home runs in 131 games in the 2021 season with the Kiwoom Heroes is a career high, and he ranked 10th in home runs then. Given this, he shouldn’t have much trouble setting a new career high this year.
Until last year, the last time a hitter who called pitcher-friendly Jamsil Stadium home had won the home run title was a Doosan player. Only three have done so: Kim Sang-ho (1995), Tyrone Woods (1998), and Kim Jae-hwan (2018).
In addition, only two catchers with high physical demands have ever won the home run title, Lee Man-soo (formerly of the Samsung Lions), who won the title three years in a row since 1983, and Park Kyung-wan of the Hyundai Unicorns in 2000 and the SK Wyverns in 2004.
Furthermore, LG is the only one of the 10 current clubs that has not produced a home run king in the 41 years of the KBO.
Therefore, if Park reaches the home run king this year, he will reach a new milestone in KBO history.
He will not only be the first catcher to call Jamsil Stadium home, but he will also be the first home run king in LG’s history. There has never been a home run king like this before.