Tom Froemming

Before we start ... I wrote an LG Twins/KBO primer article last week, but one item I was unable to track down was how the team got its nickname. I found the answer. Per an article at The Athletic by C. Trent Rosecrans, the team name references twin towers in Seoul that are owned by the LG company. Mystery solved. TUE: Twins 9, Hanwha 5 | Box score | Highlights The Twins sure made things interesting in this one. They entered the ninth up 9-3, but ended up allowing the tying run to reach the plate. Ace reliever Jung Woo-young had to be called upon to record the final out. Right fielder Chea Eun-sung hit his fifth home run of the season and was 3-for-4 with a walk. He’s emerging as one of my favorite players on the team. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1272979591817236488 In his age-30 season, Jung Chan-heon transitioned from the bullpen to the rotation. So, this is essentially if the Minnesota Twins had Taylor Rogers start games this season. The move has gone extremely well, though Jung has been given plenty of extra days rest between starts. After a solid outing in this game, Jung has a 3.34 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 8.8 K/9. For more background on the role change, check out this article. Second baseman Jung Ju-hyeon was an unlikely hero, hitting both a bases clearing triple and a home run in this one. He tallied just two triples and two homers in 129 games all of last season. WED: Twins 7, Hanwha 1 | Box score | Highlights Lim Chan-gyu turned in a quality start after surviving a stressful second inning. He threw 115 pitches over six innings, racking up eight strikeouts while holding the Eagles to just one run. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1273339591769165826 The first two hitters in the Twins lineup — Lee Chun-woong and Hong Chang-gi — combined to get on base in seven of their eight plate appearances. THU: Twins 9, Hanwha 7 | Box score | Highlights After cruising to victory in the second game of this series, this was another one that got too close for comfort. The Twins led 4-3 heading into the eighth inning, and it’s a good thing they kept tacking on runs. The big news in this one was that slugger Roberto Ramos returned to action, but it was former Baltimore Orioles outfielder Kim Hyun-soo who carried the Twins lineup. He was 3-for-4 with a homer and a walk. Former Cubs prospect Son Ho-young came off the bench and recorded his first career KBO hit, RBI and stolen base. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1273753889259622401 The 25-year-old rookie has had quite a unique journey to the KBO, which was detailed in this article. Son quit college in Korea, signed as an international free agent with the Cubs, was released after three seasons in their system and completed mandatory military service upon his return to Korea prior to being drafted by the Twins. FRI: Doosan 18, Twins 10 | Box score | Highlights The Doosan Bears, defending KBO champs, built a 13-1 lead by the time the top of the second inning was over. The weird fact about this game is the 28 runs were scored without the benefit of a single home run. Pretty incredible. When's the last time something like that's happened in the big leagues? https://twitter.com/canonpod/status/1274017810302357504 Here’s the box score from that September 1970 14-13 Twins loss at the hands of the Royals in which 27 runs were scored without a home run being hit. That game went 12 innings. SAT: Doosan 8, Twins 2 | Box score | Highlights Casey Kelly turned in a quality start, holding the Bears to three runs over seven innings while also racking up seven strikeouts, but the Twins lineup was shut out until the final frame. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1274323001467711488 SUN: Doosan 3, Twins 1 | Box score | Highlights The Twins turned to 18-year-old starter Lee Min-ho in the final game of the series. He held Doosan to two runs over his five innings, but needed 110 pitches to make it that far due to struggles with command. Lee walked four batters, hit two more and threw a wild pitch. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1274699493498388481 Current KBO standings 1. NC Dinos 28-12 2(t). Doosan Bears 25-16 (-3.5) 2(t). LG Twins 25-16 (-3.5) 4. Kiwoom Heroes 25-17 (-4) 5. Kia Tigers 23-18 (-5.5) 6. Lotte Giants 20-21 (-8.5) 7. Samsung Lions 20-22 (-9) 8. KT Wiz 18-23 (-10.5) 9. SK Wyverns (-16.5) 10. Hanwha Eagles (-19) This week Tue/Wed/Thu: vs. Kiwoom Heroes Fri/Sat/Sun: at SK Wyverns

Why the KBO? Well, they’re actually playing. The KBO season has been up and running for about a month already thanks to a proactive approach by the country, which Time magazine recently acknowledged in an article on the best global responses to COVID-19. It’s been interesting to get a look at baseball played in empty stadiums. Kinda reminds me of the lean years during the Metrodome era. Ha! Another thing the KBO has going for it is broadcasts and highlights are relatively easy to find compared to other leagues that operate overseas. Some KBO games are even available on ESPN, but all of their games are available on Twitch with the Korean broadcast teams. Japan’s NPB, which starts Friday, is a step above the KBO in terms of talent, but it appears it’s more difficult to watch games here in the states. Taiwan’s CPBL is more accessible, with many games available in english on Twitter, but the talent is a few steps below the KBO and there’s only five teams. KBO compared to MLB The brand of baseball played in the KBO represents something closer to what some American baseball fans long for. There’s fewer plate appearances that end in one of the “three true outcomes” — a strikeout, walk or home run. Last season, 35.1% of MLB plate appearances ended in one of those three outcomes. The KBO is at 29.0% so far in 2020, a mark the MLB hasn’t been below since 2008. Narrowing things down further, the most significant difference comes in K%. MLB’s K% in 2019 was 23.0%, while it’s at just 17.6% in the KBO so far this year. One thing that’s noticeable between the leagues is KBO defenders generally lack the range and arm strength of their MLB counterparts. As a result, the league average BABIP in the KBO this year is .312, while MLB’s BABIP was .298 last year. This all results in the mean KBO batting average coming out to .273. MLB was at .252 in 2019, and the last time it surpassed that KBO mark was 1939. So there’s a lot more traffic on the bases than you’re used to seeing from the MLB. Why are they the Twins? Uh … if you find out, please let me know. This was one of the KBO’s original franchises, so its roots go back to 1982. Up until 1990, however, they were known as the MBC Chungryong, or Blue Dragons. The LG Corporation purchased the club and renamed them the Twins. Again, not sure how they landed on that name. How are the LG Twins similar to the Minnesota Twins? One connection between the KBO Twins and the MLB Twins is that their most recent glory days are more than 25 years in the past. The KBO Twins won the Korean Series Championship in 1990 and again in 1994. After a decade-long stretch of futility, they’ve been to the playoffs in four of the past seven seasons, but are still chasing another championship. In an excellent KBO preview, Pitcher List had the New York Mets as the most similar MLB team to the LG Twins. The logic was the Twins play second fiddle to the Doosan Bears, a dominant KBO team who they share a stadium with in Seoul. The Mets comp is natural, but I think most Minnesota Twins fans can also identify with that concept of being constantly overshadowed by a Yankees-adjacent team. On Twitter, Baseball Brit compared the LG Twins to the Los Angeles Dodgers, another team that hasn’t tasted championship glory in quite some time. The fact that Joey is an LG fan is as much of an endorsement as I need. If you’re not familiar with him, here’s a good interview Sports Illustrated did on his quest to attend 162 baseball games last year. About the 2020 LG Twins The good news is the Twins are off to a strong start this season, boasting a 21-13 record, putting them third in the 10-team league. The bad news is slugger Roberto Ramos, a former Rockies prospect, was recently placed on the Injured List with back and ankle pain. Ramos is coming off back-to-back 30-home run seasons in the minors, and was leading the KBO in home runs at the time of his injury. https://twitter.com/AlexFast8/status/1268892869206716416 Among the other current LG Twins who previously played in the states include former Baltimore Orioles outfielder Hyun Soo Kim. When Kim returned to South Korea, O’s teammate Tyler Wilson followed. The right-hander is in his third year in the LG Twins’ rotation. Former big leaguer Casey Kelly, another starting pitcher for the Twins, is in his second year with the team. A standout hitter who's never played in the states is right fielder Weun-Sung Chae. The pitching staff features some exciting prospects, the youngest of which is Min-ho Lee, an 18-year-old who’s off to a great start. The Twins also have 20-year-old Jung Woo-young, who was the 2019 KBO Rookie of the Year, in the bullpen. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1271927197100630016 Watching the KBO without its fans feels like missing out on the best part of the entire experience, but that’s what we’ll have to settle for at the moment. Here’s a look at what a KBO game looks like under normal circumstances: MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email