KBO: Dongers Club – June 5th

Welcome to the weekend of KBO DFS.  As we head into the weekend and continue to no doubt have KBO in our lives for another month or more as MLB does … nothing … we should really factor in the bullpen usage more and more.  Here’s a quick high level data point on the bullpen’s heading into the weekend action.

Yeah, I wish we had some better scraped metrics right now on the bullpens other than ERA but it’s a starting point and clearly indicates what we have seen for example with the KT Wiz who have really struggled late in games as well as Doosan and Hanwha.   LG is far away better than every other teams bullpen right now, and many times bullpens will be worse early in a season than the middle of a season, so I would suspect everyone improves making LG a team to avoid attacking when they have a solid starter on the mound.

WEATHER

No issues

PITCHING

Mike Wright – $9100, NC Dinos

Most pitchers having success (i.e. big games) in the KBO either have a strikeout rate over 20% or their opponents have a high strike out rate as well.  Mike Wright today has both going for him as he is the lucky dog who gets to face the Hanwha Eagles.

Ricardo Pinto – $7500, Samsung Lions

This is an interesting spot as Samsung faces SK and these teams are slowly starting to improve offensively and neither Pinto or Dae WooK Kim is a steady plug and play forget about it arm.  They both have risks, but Pinto doesn’t have to face Jeong Choi and Jamie Romak like Kim does.  Being the home pitcher I’ll give him the slight nod in a spot I wouldn’t be opposed to just game stacking the pitchers.

Sneaky #3

Shi Hwan Jang – $6900, Hanwha Eagles

He could get overlooked pitching against Mike Wright but SH Jang has really high strikeout rates and the Doosan Bears are up there in strikeouts as well.  If you aren’t considering Doosan in a pitchers park like me then look at Shi Hwan as a nice leverage option.

HITTING

KT WIZ

Jeong Dae Bae, Yong Ho Jo, Mel Rojas Jr., Sung Woo Jang

The Giants home stadium is statistically (and visually) one of the best looking hitters parks in the KBO.  It’s ++ in every hitting category except for triples and we combine two bad bullpens along with two bad starting pitchers — both with low strikeout rates and high contact allowed rates and we’re in line for a potential must play game.  For the KT Wiz, they’ve got good recent form coming off their series against Doosan, but are usually a lineup that murders LHP and is just ‘decent’ against RHP — especially with their best RHP masher Baek Ho Kang out.

KIA TIGERS

Preston Tucker, Ji Wan Na, Hyung Woo Choi

They’re underdogs and will be under the radar against Doosan.  But Young Ha Lee’s been struggling keeping guys off the bases despite doing well at limiting runs.  Signs indicate though the damn is gonna burst and his 0 HR allowed this season doesn’t jive with his historical stats.  Great spot for Preston Tucker as you can see and he’ll be a little on the low ownership side with some of the other higher priced stud OF being in great spots.

LOTTE GIANTS

Ah Seop Son, Jun Woo Jeon, Dae Ho Lee, Chi Hong An

Lotte is a top heavy team, meaning their production comes at the top of the order.

Note:  KT Wiz starting pitcher Min Soo Kim is likely going only 2 innings based off his prior game logs.  He is a bullpen guy who hasn’t faced more than 7 batters in a game all year.

POSITIONAL CHEAT SHEET

Notes …

• First Base is top heavy today, I’m not on Doosan much so those value guys dont jump out that much to me.
• Shortstop is a position to pay down at.
• Outfield has the most depth with good High end guys (Tucker/Rojas), nice middle plays as normal and some solid value (Na, Chae, Ho Jo)

Chairman of the Dongers Club

Jun Woo Jeon – OF – Lotte Giants – $4500