In addition, home run-run king Murakami-Okamoto, KBO League is dominated by foreign hitters, but NPB is led by domestic hitters (Min Chang-ki's Japanese baseball)

Sep 12, 2024

In addition, home run-run king Murakami-Okamoto, KBO League is dominated by foreign hitters, but NPB is led by domestic hitters (Min Chang-ki's Japanese baseball)
Murakami, who hit his 25th home run of the season against Chunichi on the 11th, is ranking first in home runs by three differences. Photo capture = Yakult Swallows SNS
In addition, home run-run king Murakami-Okamoto, KBO League is dominated by foreign hitters, but NPB is led by domestic hitters (Min Chang-ki's Japanese baseball)
Okamoto, who hit 41 home runs last year, has 22 home runs as of the 11th. After Murakami, he is tied for second in home runs and No. 1 in RBIs. Photo capture =Miuri Giants SNS
In addition, home run-run king Murakami-Okamoto, KBO League is dominated by foreign hitters, but NPB is led by domestic hitters (Min Chang-ki's Japanese baseball)
LG foreign hitter Austin, who ranks first in RBIs. He stood tall as the best foreign hitter this season. Reporter Song Jeong-heon
Guillermo Herredia (SSG Landers), the first in batting average, Matt Davidson (NC Dinos), the first in homers, and Austin Dean (LG Twins), the first in RBIs. This year, the KBO League is also notable for the strong performance of foreign hitters. Foreign hitters are sweeping the top ranks in the major batting categories. There are three players in the top five home runs and four players in the top five RBIs. Davison is second in RBIs and Austin is fourth in homers.

Mel Rojas Jr. (KT Wiz), who returned after the Mexican league, easily surpassed '30 home runs-100 RBIs'. Home run and RBI No. 4. I had a disastrous two-year failure with the Hanshin Tigers, and I'm back in the KBO League. Davidson hit 43 home runs to become the home run king, and hit 19 home runs at the Hiroshima Carp last year.

Japanese professional baseball, where 'throwers' are raging. Domestic batters continue to perform more prominently than foreign players. There are some teams where foreign players are playing as the main force, but Korean batters lead various races.

Okamoto in 2020, Okamoto-Murakami in 2021, Murakami in 2022, Okamoto in 2023.

The two have shared the home run title in the Central League for the past four years. Before Okamoto Kazuma (Yomiuri Giants) and Murakami Munetaka (Yakurt Swallows) came out, foreign hitters won the home run title for three years from 2017 to 2019. Alex Guerrero (Chunichi Dragons) stood tall in 2017 and Neftali Soto (Yokohama Baystars) in 2018-2019.

Soto, who flew to Japan in 2018, fired 41 that year. He hit 43 in his second year, winning his second consecutive home run title. He moved to Chiba Lotte Marines last winter and played as the main hitter. He has 19 home runs-82 RBIs in the changed league.

In 2020, Okamoto, a sixth-year professional, and Murakami, a fourth-year professional, hit 39. He became the joint home run king. The following year, Murakami shook Japan. He hit 56 home runs, surpassing legendary home run king Sadaharu Oh (Wang Jeong-gi, chairman of Softbank Hawks) and setting a new Japanese single-season home run record.

The two representing Japan are Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers) and Masataka Yoshida (Boston Red
In addition, home run-run king Murakami-Okamoto, KBO League is dominated by foreign hitters, but NPB is led by domestic hitters (Min Chang-ki's Japanese baseball)
Yokhama foreign hitter Austin. He is tied for second in home runs in the Central League. He has 22 home runs and 60 RBIs. Photo capture = Yokohama BayStars SNS
In addition, home run-run king Murakami-Okamoto, KBO League is dominated by foreign hitters, but NPB is led by domestic hitters (Min Chang-ki's Japanese baseball)
Maki, a Yokohama infielder who has hit 20 home runs for four consecutive years since his debut season. He was the only player in both leagues to have a triple-digit RBI with 103 RBIs last year. Photo capture = Yokohama BayStars SNS
Saks) and Kondo Kenske (Softbank Hawks) were the center hitters.

Last year, Okamoto beat Murakami. It was the third home run king and the first place in three years. He made 41 shots to overwhelm Murakami, the runner-up who hit 31. He exceeded his first 40 home runs in his career.

Makishugo (Yokohama), a third-year college graduate, took the top spot in RBIs. He hit 20 home runs for three consecutive years since his debut season and posted 103 RBIs. Maki was the only player in both leagues to have triple-digit RBIs last year. Okamoto followed with 93 and Murakami with 84.

Chunichi's away game at Nagoya Dome on the 11th. Murakami, who played as a fourth-third baseman, hit a one-run home run over left-center in the ninth inning. Chunichi right-hander Sobue Daisuke hit a fastball 145km/h high from 2B2S. 25th home run of the season.

Murakami has been sluggish lately. After 11 consecutive home runs, he hit his 24th home run against Chunichi on the 10th. Chunichi's second at-bat in the fourth inning
In addition, home run-run king Murakami-Okamoto, KBO League is dominated by foreign hitters, but NPB is led by domestic hitters (Min Chang-ki's Japanese baseball)
NC foreign batter Davison. He is leading in home runs. Reporter Heo Sang-wook
He hit a one-run homer off Hiroto Sukahashi. The cannon was activated after 12 games and 50 at-bats. It was Takahashi's first home run this season, the No. 1 ERA.

Okamoto and Taylor Austin of Yokohama, who hit 22 side by side, are right behind Murakami. Okamoto has no homers in four games and Austin has failed to add in the last six. Seiya Hosokawa (Chunichi) and Maki are tied for fourth with 20.

It's a home run race where Murakami seems to have some advantage. Okamoto's team, Yomiuri, is competing for first place, while Austin's team, Yokohama, is competing for third place. It is not a situation to look at personal grades and records. Yakult, on the other hand, is at the bottom. It has moved away from fall baseball. The burden on the team's performance is apparently less.

The RBI division is followed by a close race. Okamoto ranks first to fifth with 69, Shota Morishita (Hanshin) in his second year as a professional, 67 for Murakami, 66 for Maki, and 65 for Jose Osuna (Yakurt). There are 15 to 20 games left for each team, so it is unpredictable.

In addition, home run-run king Murakami-Okamoto, KBO League is dominated by foreign hitters, but NPB is led by domestic hitters (Min Chang-ki's Japanese baseball)
Rojas hit a three-run double in the top of the eighth inning against LG on August 29. Reporter Song Jeong-heon
In the Pacific League, Kondo ranks first in batting average and Hotaka Yamakawa (Softbank) ranks first in home runs and RBIs. Yamakawa is leading the game with "31 home runs-89 RBIs"."



Reporter Min Chang-ki huelva@sportschosun.com



huelva@sportschosun.com