Hanwha Eagles pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin is ranked first and third in strikeouts and ERA, but his team remains at the bottom of the standings. / Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

Players’ impressive numbers at the plate and on the mound seem to have little to do with their team rankings, as players from the clubs in the middle or bottom of the standings in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) are swarming around the stratosphere in individual statistics.

The Hanwha Eagles currently have one of the game’s best pitchers and batters, Ryu Hyun-jin and Kim Tae-kyun, but the team has remained in the cellar for nearly two months, while the league-leading SK Wyverns have few players putting up solid numbers.

The Eagles lefty posted a 2.57 ERA, the third-best in the league as of Friday and is a runaway leader in strikeouts with 93 ― 44 more than runner-up Shane Demond Youman of the Lotte Giants.

Despite Ryu’s stellar pitching performance, the Daejeon-based team have remained at the bottom of the standings since April 13 with 16 wins and 28 losses.

As a result, he has failed constantly to add wins to his tally. Most recently, at the game against the Samsung Lions on Thursday, although he displayed decent pitching with 13 strikeouts and 2.57 ERA allowing only two runs in seven innings, the Eagles failed to follow his momentum to victory. The ace pitcher had to swallow his pride one more time as the match ended up with the Eagles losing 3-2.

The same concern has surrounded the slugger Kim. Since he signed a 1.5 billion won deal with the Eagles, becoming the most expensive player in the KBO’s history, the team’s clean-up hitter has proved that the lavish contract is worthwhile. At the plate, Eagles Kim has wielded a red-hot bat to take the league’s best batting average and hits with .432 and 63, respectively.

Ranked first, the 30-year-old is determined to step up to save his team from the bottom. Like Ryu did, Kim displayed a fine performance with two hits and one run in the game against the Lions Thursday, which obviously wasn’t good enough to bring the team the victory.

Interestingly enough, the current leader Wyverns have impressed the fans with .55 winning rate in the absence of mega star players. Although Choi Jeong is ranked second in home run with 13, no hitter in the Wyverns is in the top 10 when it comes to the batting averages. With a good combination of batting and pitching with the .256 batting average and 3.91 ERA, so far, the team has the most home runs with 42, which has contributed greatly to getting them to the top of the league. After a good start with a victory over the Kia Tigers in its first game on April 7, the Wyverns have not allowed themselves to fall out of the top three.

As the tug-of-war season keeps on with no clear frontrunner, the fans’ expectations for ace players shoot up. However, without the support of the rest of their teammates, their individual performances may not count for much in the overall league standings.