Lotte Giants vs Hanwha Eagles Prediction, 5/18/2023 KBO Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Lotte Giants vs Hanwha Eagles

Date: Thursday, May 18, 2023

Location: Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon, South Korea

TV: SBS Sports

Hanwha Life Eagles Park is the site where Eun-won Jung and the Hanwha Eagles (12-21, 9th in KBO) will take on the Lotte Giants (20-11, 1st in KBO) on Thursday, May 18, 2023.

As a team, the Lotte Giants are notching 4.8 runs per game, which puts them at 2nd in baseball. They have tallied 150 runs scored and have an on-base percentage of .334. The Giants have hit 45 two-baggers as a unit and have smacked 14 balls out of the park. They have compiled 137 runs batted in and 274 base knocks on the year, and their batting average sits at .261. Lotte is slugging .356 and have been called out on strikes 195 times, while taking a walk on 114 occasions.

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Jun-woo Jeon is one batter you are going to want to keep your eye on for Lotte. For his professional baseball career, Jeon has slapped 181 baseballs out of the park while knocking in 824 runs. Over the course of his pro career, he came to the plate 6,334 times and got on base with a base hit 1,684 times. Jeon has hit .298 for his baseball career, in addition to 930 scored runs and an OPS of .824. His career slugging percentage is .462 and he has racked up 2,608 bases. He has been struck out 949 times and has walked on 513 at-bats, contributing to a .362 OBP.

The Lotte Giants have earned a total of 834 putouts at this point in the season, in addition to 264 assists and 14 errors. Their fielding rate is holding at .987 which puts them in 2nd in the league and have accumulated 22 double plays. The Giants have swiped 28 bags and have been thrown out 8 times, which tells us their caught stealing rate is 22.2%.

They have accumulated a K/BB ratio of 2.06 and the pitching staff has a collective WHIP of 1.47. Giants pitchers have surrendered 18 long balls in addition to 141 runs in total (8th in the league). Lotte has given up 289 hits (9.4 per 9 innings) as well as 133 earned runs. The Giants have a team earned run average of 4.31 so far this season (8th in baseball), and they have rung up 245 batters.

Hanwha has a total of 18 home runs on the campaign as well as 123 runs batted in. They have hit 51 two-baggers, while walking 128 times and scoring 129 runs. The Hanwha Eagles are sitting with a team on-base percentage of .311 and a batting average of .229 so far this year. The Eagles have a slugging percentage of .319 and they are recording 3.69 runs per outing (10th in the league). They have been rung up on 306 occasions (1st in the league) and have totaled 271 hits.

Eun-won Jung is a hitter who can be a difference maker for Hanwha. Jung has recorded a walk 317 times while striking out on 425 chances. He is sitting with 311 runs in addition to having 199 runs batted in. His OBP is .359 and he also has a career OPS of .721. He has gone yard 29 times, with 776 total bases and a .361 slugging percentage. Over the course of the 2,148 at-bats in his professional career, Jung has compiled an average at the plate of .265 in addition to having 569 hits.

Of their 39 tries at getting a steal, they have had success 22 times and been caught 17 times (43.6% caught stealing rate). The Hanwha Eagles have turned 35 double plays and own a fielding percentage of .982 (3rd in the league). The Eagles have 362 assists, 24 errors and have earned a total of 953 putouts on the season.

The Eagles have a WHIP of 1.381 and have a FIP of 4.31 as a staff so far this year. Their strikeout to walk ratio is 1.78 (256 strikeouts vs 144 walks). They sit at 6th in baseball as a staff in total hits surrendered with 294. They have given up 23 long balls and they give up 4.31 runs per 9 innings (5th in KBO). The Hanwha pitching staff have relinquished 152 runs on the season while holding an ERA of 3.92 (138 earned runs surrendered).

Who will win tonight's baseball game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Lotte

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