This article is part of our DraftKings KBO series.
Sunday's KBO slate saw four teams score at least seven runs while the other six scored no more than four. The Eagles led the way with their 11-3 demolition of the Dinos, with Si Hwan Roh hitting a pair of three-run homers. The Wiz put 10 runs past the Heroes, with Jae Gyun Hwang and Bon Gi Shin each grabbing three hits as Young Pyo Ko grabbed his third straight quality start, allowing just two runs in six innings. Three-hit days from both Kyoung Min Heo and Jose Fernandez and five shutout innings from Ariel Miranda helped the Bears past the local rival Twins, 9-1, while Tae In Won struck out 10 in seven shutout innings as the Lions beat the Giants by a 7-0 score.
Tuesday's slate kicks off a new set of matchups for a league which remains very tight. All 10 teams sit between five and eight wins. The pitcher pool features a handful of very shaky starters, but it also has a strong top end.
Pitchers
Aaron Brooks ($9,300) looks like the best of the expensive options, even against a Twins lineup which should finish far higher than ninth in scoring, the spot it currently occupies. Brooks' 4.58 ERA through his first three starts this season is nothing special, but it's still early enough in the year that one poor start (such as his seven-run outing against the Dinos in his second trip to the mound) can inflate that number significantly. He's allowed a combined two runs in 13.2 innings in his other two starts, so there's little reason to believe he's no longer the guy who filled up the leaderboard with his 2.50 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 22.2 percent strikeout rate and 4.1 percent walk rate last season.
Seung Won Moon ($8,000) is stuck pitching in hitter-friendly Daegu Samsung Lions Park, but facing a mediocre Lions lineup in that park isn't a particularly daunting task. His 6:5 K:BB through his first two starts is unconvincing, but that's mostly the result of one shaky outing, as he looked good last time out against the Dinos, lasting seven innings and allowing three runs on just two hits and a walk while striking out four. He now owns a 3.00 ERA and 0.83 WHIP after cruising to a 3.65 ERA and 1.24 WHIP last season.
Wes Parsons ($7,600) missed the start of the season due to shoulder troubles, but he was able to throw 108 pitches in his season debut against the Landers and looked quite good, striking out six and walking two while allowing just three hits in 5.2 scoreless innings. Parsons failed to impress in his 39.2 innings at the MLB level, struggling to a 5.67 ERA and a 29:32 K:BB, but that's true of just about every former major leaguer in Korea. The fact that the Dinos deemed him worthy of one of their two foreign pitcher slots indicates he's expected to be one of the better pitchers in the league, making him a bargain even against a strong lineup like the Wiz as long as he's not priced as anything close to a top option.
Top Targets
I'd love to include an Eagle or two against Heroes righty Jeong In Kim, who owns a career 7.20 ERA and 2.03 WHIP, but I'm not sure I'm willing to pay up for Si Hwan Roh, who comes in north of $5,000 after a very hot start but who posted a .685 OPS last season. Ryon Healy ($4,100) comes considerably cheaper and has plenty of pedigree as a former major leaguer. He can't match Roh's season numbers, but his bat is starting to heat up, as he had a pair of multi-hit games over the weekend and just hit his first KBO homer on Sunday. He should wind up as one of the better hitters in the league given his MLB resume, but he's still not priced like one.
Jose Fernandez ($5,500) started the season slowly, grabbing just three hits in his first five games. He's since picked things up, recording multi-hit games in four of his last seven, including three hits against the Twins on Sunday. He's already dragged his batting average back up to .313, though that would actually represent the lowest mark of his three-year KBO career. He'll get the platoon advantage against 37-year-old Giants righty Kyung Eun Noh, who posted a 4.87 ERA last year after spending the previous season pitching in Australia.
Bargain Bats
Kang Min Kim ($2,900) has been leading off against lefties for the Landers this season, making him a strong budget option Tuesday. He'll get the platoon advantage against Lions lefty Seung Min Lee, who's 18 years his junior and owns a career 5.59 ERA and 1.70 WHIP. With the game taking place in the league's most hitter-friendly park, Kim would be interesting almost regardless of his stats. The 38-year-old is still a decent hitter, though, as he posted a respectable .745 OPS last year while homering 12 times in 327 plate appearances. If the Landers pick their spots to deploy him wisely this season, his numbers could rise, as seen in his .263/.391/.421 slash line through 24 trips to the plate thus far.
If you're uninteresting in Seung Won Moon, as suggested above, and want to take a chance against him given the Lions' hitter-friendly park, consider the inexpensive Ji Chan Kim ($3,300) rather than some of the team's more expensive bats. He's led off in two straight games and will get the platoon advantage against Moon on Tuesday. The 5-foot-4 second baseman homered just once in 287 plate appearances last season, but he stole 21 bases. He's already stolen four bases this year, tied for third in the league. If the Lions do get to Moon in this one, Kim could have a chance to score multiple runs.
Stacks to Consider
Dinos vs. Je Seong Bae: Eui Ji Yang ($6,400), Aaron Altherr ($6,400), Chang Min Mo ($2,000)
The Dinos led the league in scoring by half a run last season and lead the pack by 0.85 runs so far this season, so their top hitters tend to find themselves highly-owned on most nights. That should be as true as even Tuesday, but it'll be hard not to join the crowd. Bae produced a 3.95 ERA last season, but it's hard to see him repeating that unless his underlying numbers dramatically improve, as he combined a 13.2 percent strikeout rate with a 12.1 percent walk rate. Those numbers have gotten even worse through his first two outings this year, as he's struck out six batters in 9.1 innings while walking eight and allowing eight earned runs.
The biggest problem with any Dinos stack is the deservedly high price tags on the team's best bats. I've included too of the three superstars here, though Sung Bum Na ($5,900) is certainly also worth a look. Yang has dominated the catcher pool this season, as expected, scoring 4.2 more DraftKings points per game than any other backstop. He'd be a dominant hitter at any position, however, as his 1.143 OPS is good for third among qualified hitters. His spot at the heart of the league's best lineup has helped him to a league-leading 18 RBI.
Altherr sits third in the league in RBI with 16 and is one of just two hitters to surpass Yang's OPS, posting a 1.162 mark. He's making an early case for MVP by launching seven homers, three more than anyone else in the league, with five of those coming in his last eight games. He'd be an excellent option even if he was batting eighth like he confusingly did for much of last season, but his spot as the Dinos' number five hitter makes him all the more exciting.
Mo's minimum price tag helps keep this stack at an affordable $4,333.33 per player. The cheap price makes some sense, as he's appeared in just a single game this season, starting Sunday in place of Jin Sung Kang (ankle), but he's far more talented than most players who are this inexpensive. He produced an OPS of .824 or better for four straight years from 2016 to 2019 and still managed a solid .789 mark last season while playing infrequently due to Kang's emergence. If Kang misses another game and Mo bats sixth again in his absence, directly behind Yang and Altherr, he'll be the best value play on the slate.
Giants vs. Young Ha Lee: Jun Woo Jeon ($5,000), Chi Hong An ($3,900), Ah Seop Son ($3,900)
Lee showed promise as a 21-year-old in 2019, cruising to a 3.64 ERA and 1.28 WHIP, but he pitched his way out of a rotation role last season, ending the year with a 4.64 ERA and 1.62 WHIP. He did find some success in the bullpen and even went on to save six games, so there was perhaps reason to buy into a bounceback this year in his return to a starting role. If his first two starts are any indication, that bounceback isn't imminent. He's only allowed five earned runs in 11 innings, but he's struggled to a 1.73 WHIP and 6:5 K:BB. The Giants' offense sputtered over the weekend against the Lions, failing to score a run in two straight games, but they still sit third in scoring thanks to a very hot start and should be able to recapture that form against Lee.
Jeon has been a big part of the Giants' early success at the plate this season. His .932 OPS is very impressive for someone who's yet to hit a homer. It's been driven by a .492 on-base percentage, the second-best mark among qualified hitters. He's seeing the ball incredibly well, hitting .380 while combining a 17.5 percent walk rate with a 7.9 percent strikeout rate. The power should come soon, too, as he hit 26 homers last season, marking his third straight 20-homer campaign.
Leadoff man An deserves his share of the credit as well. He's yet to show much power but does at least have one homer. He has the on-base prowess necessary to lead a lineup, however, posting a .394 on-base percentage thanks to his .286 batting average and 14.9 percent walk rate. He's been a strong contact hitter throughout his 12-year KBO career, posting a lifetime batting average of .298. An has just one hit in his last four games, but a game against Lee should help him get back on track.
Unlike his aforementioned teammates, Son will get the platoon advantage against Lee. That should help him get going after a somewhat sputtering start that has seen him hit .250/.328/.283 through 13 games. Once he gets going, he'll be one of the best contact hitters in the league, as he finished second among qualified hitters with a .352 batting average last season and posted a .907 OPS, marking the third time in the last four years that he crossed the .900 mark in that category.
