Hong Chang-ki’s pace has been frightening in September.
The hits are coming, his batting average is up, and his slugging percentage is rising. His chances of reaching his dream 300 runs are increasing.
Hong has hit safely in nine of his 10 games in September, including eight multi-hit games. He had a multi-hit game in seven straight games, from Hanwha on the 1st to KIA on the 8th. In the games he didn’t hit, he drew walks. Recorded multiple hits in all 10 games until the 10th against KIA.
In those 10 games, he went 19-for-39 with a whopping 4.087 batting average. His slugging percentage was 5.03%.
At the end of August, Hong was in fourth place in the batting order with a 3.32 RBI, but was a bit out of contention for the batting title. However, he exploded in September, raising his season average to 3.039. He is now just three points behind SSG Landers Guillermo Heredia (.342 batting average) in the batting title race.
He also leads the league in walks with 76. He hasn’t lost his touch. However, it’s doubtful he’ll break 100. Midway through the season, he had 21 balls hit into his body, but he hasn’t been hitting sand dunes lately, reducing his risk of injury.
As he has gotten on base more, his slugging percentage has increased from 4.4 to 4.5 through the end of August. The second-place finisher, Yang Yang-ji of the Doosan Bears, is at 4.11%. At this point, it’s likely that Hong will reclaim the title in 2021.
He’s looking at a monumental record as the real batting champion. 300 runs. Only Kim Tae-gyun of the Hanwha Eagles has ever reached 300 RBI in the KBO, with 310 (193 hits, 108 walks, 9 HR) in 2016. The second-best all-time is Hong Chang-ki. In 2021, he drove in 297 runs on 172 hits with 109 strikeouts and 16 walks. He was three short of 300.
Through 11 days of 119 games, he has 248 total bases with 151 hits, 76 walks, and 21 strikeouts, which puts him just shy of 300 at his current pace. If we take the more optimistic data from September, where he had 19 hits and 6 walks in 10 games, and extrapolate that to the remaining 25 games, he would have about 62 hits, which would put him on pace to reach 310.
Of course, it’s not easy to keep up this explosive pace for nearly a month. It would be a historic achievement to become only the second player in history to reach 300 RBIs.메이저놀이터
LG’s top hitter, Hong Chang-ki, is not only aiming for the top spot in runs scored, but also the top spot in RBIs. With more runs scored comes more runs batted in. With 95 points, Hong is currently in second place, one point behind Kim Hye-sung of Kiwoom Heroes (96 points). With Kim Hye-sung going to the Asian Games, she has a leg up. There is a big gap between her and SSG’s Choi Jung (83 points) in third place, so if she can maintain her good hitting form, she could win the triple crown of RBI and runs scored.