Samsung Lions vs Lotte Giants Prediction, 4/17/2021 KBO Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Samsung Lions vs Lotte Giants

Date: Saturday, April 17, 2021

Location: Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan, South Korea

TV: SBS Sports

Odds/Point Spread: Samsung (-170) Lotte (+145)

Sajik Baseball Stadium is the site where Enderson Franco and the Lotte Giants (4-6, 10th in KBO) will take on the Samsung Lions (6-5, 3rd in KBO) on Saturday. The Giants open this game at +145 while the Lions are coming in at -170. The over/under has been set at 10. The pitchers who are expected to start are Jeong-hyeon Paek and Enderson Franco.

As a unit, the Samsung Lions are scoring 3.8 runs per game, which is 9th in baseball. They have a total of 42 runs scored while holding a team on-base percentage of .327. The Lions have earned 12 two-baggers as a squad and have hit 7 balls out of the park. They have 39 RBI's in addition to 82 base knocks on the campaign, while their team batting average is at .237. Samsung has a slugging percentage of .338 and have been called out on strikes 71 times, while being walked on 44 occasions.

Min-ho Kang is a batter who should be able to impact this game for Samsung. For his MLB career, Kang has hit 273 baseballs over the fence while driving in 962 runs. He has recorded a slugging percentage of .464 in addition to having tallied 2,792 bases. For his career, he came to bat 6,895 times and came through with a base base hit 1,656 times. He has struck out 1,306 times and has gotten a free base on 635 occasions, contributing to a .355 on-base percentage. Kang has earned a batting average of .275 in his time in baseball, in addition to 771 runs scored and an OPS of .819.

The Samsung Lions have a tally of 285 putouts for the season, as well as 101 assists and 5 errors. Their fielding rate is currently at .987 which has them ranked 4th in KBO and have earned 9 double plays. The Lions have stolen 5 bags and have been caught 4 times, which means their caught stealing rate is 44.4%.

The Lions have an earned run average of 3.51 on the year (2nd in the league), and their staff has rung up 80 batters. Lions pitchers have allowed 7 home runs in addition to 43 runs (7th in the league). Samsung has yielded 86 hits (8.1 per 9 innings) as well as 37 earned runs. Their strikeout to walk ratio is 1.95 and their pitching staff has earned a collective WHIP of 1.34.

Paek (37-35 career record) has a FIP of 5.30 while he has gone up against 3,040 opposing batters in baseball. He has surrendered 749 base hits (9.8 hits per 9 innings) and has 279 free passes. His earned run average is 4.91 (374 earned runs allowed) and he has a career WHIP of 1.499. Paek has thrown 685 innings and has accumulated 572 strikeouts during his career.

The Lotte Giants have earned an on-base percentage of .402 and a team batting average of .300 for the season. They have struck out on 79 instances (3rd in KBO) and have earned 114 base hits. Lotte has hit 7 long balls so far this season as well as 59 runs batted in. The Giants have a team slugging % of .405 and they tally 5.90 runs per contest (1st in the league). The have tallied 19 two-baggers, while getting a free base 62 times as well as scoring 59 runs.

Chi-hong Ahn is a batter who should be able to impact this game for Lotte. Ahn has drawn a walk 410 times while going down on strikes on 693 tries. His on-base percentage is .362 and he has earned a career OPS of .801. During the 4,381 at-bats in his career, Ahn has a batting average of .299 in addition to having 1,309 base hits. He has a total of 652 runs and has 647 RBIs. He has hit the long ball 109 times, as well as 1,924 total bases and a .439 slugging percentage.

The Lotte Giants have turned 9 double plays and own a fielding percentage of .990 (2nd in KBO). The Giants have 114 assists, 4 errors and have notched a total of 275 putouts on the campaign. Out of their 13 tries at stealing a base, they have been successful 11 times and been caught 2 times (15.4% caught stealing rate).

The Giants have a team WHIP of 1.360 with a FIP of 4.61 as a staff over the course of the season. Their K/BB ratio is 1.72 (86 strikeouts against 50 free passes). They are sitting at 9th in the league as a pitching staff in total hits given up with 74. They have relinquished 9 homers and they relinquish 4.61 runs per 9 innings (5th in KBO). The Lotte pitching staff have given up 47 runs so far this year while having a team ERA of 4.64 (47 earned runs yielded).

In his pro baseball career, Franco has given up 1,093 hits while he has earned 751 strikeouts in 985 innings pitched. Franco (49-60 career mark) has a 4.45 ERA while surrendering 10.0 hits per nine innings. He has surrendered a total of 487 earned runs while earning a WHIP of 1.412 and being the owner of a FIP of 5.1. He has a strikeout to walk ratio of 2.51 and he has gone up against 4,300 hitters so far in his career.

Who will win tonight's KBO game ATS?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Lotte (+145)

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