This article is part of our DraftKings KBO series.
Saturday's KBO action saw three teams reach double digits, with two of them doing so in the same game. A five-run rally in the bottom of the ninth secured a 10-10 tie for the Giants against the Bears despite a five-hit day from Bears first baseman Suk Hwan Yang. The Landers also provided plenty of offense, with Joo Hwan Choi leading the way with a pair of homers in a 12-4 win over the Tigers. On the pitching side, Nick Kingham allowed just one run in seven innings to help the Eagles to a 9-1 win over the Dinos, while Casey Kelly allowed two runs in seven frames to outduel Eric Jokisch in a 3-2 victory for the Twins over the Heroes.
Sunday's slate, which begins at 4:00 a.m. ET, looks largely rain-free, with only a minor threat to the Dinos-Eagles contest. It's quite short on top-tier pitchers but has a decent number of options worth considering.
Pitchers
Very few pitchers on Sunday's slate have notable upside, but Mike Montgomery ($8,700) seems to despite a largely unimpressive start to his career in Korea. Through four starts for the Lions, he's struggled to a 6.00 ERA and 1.56 WHIP, averaging just 4.5 innings per start. Control has been his main problem, as he's walked 18.1 percent of the batters he's faced. He's also struck out 26.5 percent of opposing batters, though, a number which would rank third in the league if he had enough innings to qualify for the leaderboard. The lefty owns a career 3.84 ERA in 541 innings at the MLB level, so even a strong KBO lineup like the Wiz shouldn't give him too much trouble if he can find the zone.
Won Tae Choi ($7,900) doesn't offer the same upside, as his low 14.6 percent strikeout rate makes it tough for him to record a high point total, but he's a safe, high-floor option. He's cruised to a 3.76 ERA this season despite that lack of whiffs, marking the third time in four years that he's been below 4.00 in that category. He doesn't walk many batters, with his 8.2 percent walk rate coming in well below the league's 10.9 percent mark. He hasn't run into much trouble since the break, allowing a combined four runs across three starts, and that's unlikely to change Sunday, as he'll face the eighth-ranked Twins offense at pitcher-friendly Jamsil Baseball Stadium.
Se Woong Park ($9,600) is perhaps a bit expensive as the priciest option on the slate, but he could be worth paying up for given the way he's pitching at the moment. He's made two starts since the Olympic break and has been excellent in both, allowing just four hits across 14 scoreless innings. He's actually been quite good for most of the season, cruising to a 2.80 ERA and 1.02 WHIP over his last 10 starts after struggling to a 5.11 ERA up to that point. He doesn't have the easiest assignment against the third-ranked Bears lineup, and he might not be one of the top choices on most slates, but his 19.3 percent strikeout rate and 7.7 percent walk rate on the season stand out as strong marks among a largely mediocre group.
Top Targets
Hernan Perez ($4,400) grabbed just a single hit in his first three KBO games, but he's been on first since then. He's recorded at least one hit in each of his last seven contests, hitting .321/.375/.643 over that stretch. He's coming off his best game yet, as he went 2-for-3 with a homer and a pair of walks in Saturday's win over the Dinos. His strong performances should be expected to continue, as most foreign hitters in Korea haven't played anywhere close to his 651 games at the MLB level. He should stay hot Sunday against Jae Hak Lee, who owns a 5.77 ERA.
The Tigers could have been one of today's top stack recommendations against young southpaw Won Seok Oh, but the team has very few bats worth selecting and most of the best options hit left-handed. Sun Bin Kim ($4,300) bats from the right side and should be one of the strongest options at shortstop on Sunday's slate. He has very little power, homering just three times this season, but he makes a ton of contact, striking out just 6.9 percent of the time en route to a .300 average, a number that nearly matches his .303 career mark. He's been particularly hot over his last 11 games, hitting .364 with just two strikeouts.
Bargain Bats
Ah Seop Son ($3,600) had been in a funk to start the second half, hitting just .146 over his first 12 games since the break, but he broke out of it Saturday with a three-hit performance. That brought his batting average up to .298, a number which would actually be his second-lowest mark in the last 12 seasons. He's not a power threat, homering just once this season, but few hitters in the league have such a long track record of hitting for such a high average. That makes him a reliable choice whenever the Giants face a weaker right-handed pitcher, which certainly describes Been Gwak and his 5.08 ERA.
Jeong Won Choi ($2,900) continues to occupy one of the best lineup spots in the league, hitting either first or second in the Dinos lineup, giving the likes of Eui Ji Yang and Sung Bum Na plenty of opportunities to drive him in. Nearly anyone would be worth a price this cheap if they field that role, but Choi has shown plenty of reason to select him independent of his situation recently. In 10 games since emerging as a starter early in the second half, he's hitting .395, striking out just four times while adding four steals. That's certainly enough to make him one of the more interesting options in this price range, especially as he'll get the platoon advantage against Eagles righty Min Woo Kim, who's allowed seven runs on 12 hits in 6.2 innings since the break.
Stacks to Consider
Landers vs. Hyeon Su Kim: Shin Soo Choo ($5,500), Yoo Seom Han ($4,000), Joo Hwan Choi ($3,700)
Kim held the lowly Eagles scoreless over 5.2 innings in his first start of the second half (his second of the year), but he struck out just two batters while walking three, so it's hard to say he was dominant. He had an even worse 1:4 K:BB in his next outing, this time with the expected results, as he gave up four runs against the Heroes while failing to get out of the fifth inning. That's been the way most of his season has gone, as he's struck out 15 batters while walking 19 in 27.1 innings of work as a swingman, leading to a 6.59 ERA and 1.76 WHIP. The young righty had a similarly poor 23:32 K:BB prior to this season, so there's little reason to believe a bounceback is coming any time soon. The stack listed here features three of the Landers' best left-handed bats, though other top hitters like Jeong Choi ($5,300) are certainly usable as well.
Heroes vs. Ju Young Son: Dong Won Park ($4,600), Will Craig ($4,000), Byung Ho Park ($3,300)
Son presumably has some potential, as he was the second-overall pick back in the 2017 draft. He looked good in the Futures League this season, posting a 1.13 ERA in 32 innings while striking out 38 batters, but he's shown very little at the KBO level. In 11 innings this season (two starts and one relief appearance), he owns a 6.55 ERA and 2.00 WHIP. He's struck out just 13.5 percent of opposing batters while walking 19.2 percent. The main reasons not to stack the Heroes here is because the Twins have a strong bullpen that they could turn to fairly early in the game, which is being played at pitcher-friendly Jamsil Baseball Stadium, but Son is liable to give up enough runs before exiting to make this stack strong nonetheless. The players listed here are a trio of righties who should bat in the heart of the Heroes order against the struggling southpaw.
