As the first half of the season drew to a conclusion in South Korean baseball this week, a familiar name sat atop the home run leaderboard.

Choi Jeong of the SSG Landers is tied for the home run lead in the Korea Baseball Organization with 19 after 73 games. He is chasing his fourth home run crown, which would make him the oldest player to lead the KBO in that category at 36 years and eight months old.

The player on level with Choi is at the other end of the age spectrum. Roh Si-hwan of the Hanwha Eagles has also smacked 19 home runs, though in five more games. If Roh, who will still be 22 by the end of the season, beats out Choi and others, he'd become the third-youngest player to win a home run title.

Choi jumped into the home run race with a league-best 11 dingers in June. A minor leg injury has kept Choi in the park for July, but he is expected to return healthy following the All-Star break.

Choi is also leading or is tied for the lead in RBIs (58), runs (64) and slugging percentage (.577).

In each of these categories, Roh is nipping at Choi's heels, ranking second in RBIs (57), fourth in runs (51) and second in slugging (.560).

The race for the batting title is shaping up to be an exciting one for the second half. Guillermo Heredia of the Landers is the leader at .339, but the 2019 batting champ, Yang Eui-ji of the Doosan Bears, is breathing down his neck at .335.

Both are probably looking over their shoulders for the two-time reigning champion, Lee Jung-hoo of the Kiwoom Heroes. Lee batted only .218 in April, the lowest monthly average of his career, but went on to bat .305 in May and .374 in June to join the race. So far in July, Lee is batting .390. At .312 for the season, Lee is seventh in batting average.

On the pitching side, foreign starters have been dominating major categories, with the top three spots in ERA occupied by non-Korean hurlers.

NC Dinos' first-year American starter Erick Fedde leads the league with a 1.71 ERA, followed by Raul Alcantara of the Doosan Bears (2.03) and Adam Plutko of the LG Twins (2.21).

Fedde is also tops with 12 wins, having already defeated each of the Dinos' nine opponents at least once. He is trying to become the first KBO pitcher since former Eagles ace Ryu Hyun-jin in 2010 to finish a season with a sub-2.00 ERA.

Kiwoom Heroes' homegrown ace An Woo-jin is enjoying another dominant campaign, his ho-hum, 6-5 record notwithstanding. He leads all pitchers with 130 strikeouts in 107 innings, and is third in walks and hits per inning pitched with 1.05 and fourth in ERA with 2.44.

Landers closer Seo Jin-young has collected a league-best 25 saves without blowing a single opportunity. His setup man, Noh Kyung-eun, leads the KBO with 18 holds.

LG Twins infielder Shin Min-jae, a career backup finally getting some regular action this year, is the first-half leader in steals with 21. It's already Shin's career high by 11.

He's being chased down by the 2021 steals leader, Kim Hye-seong of the Heroes, who has 20.

Since 2020, Kim has swiped more bags than any KBO player with 125, and no one else even has 100 in that span.

But Kim has one thing working against him this year. He has been selected to represent South Korea at the Asian Games this fall, and unlike in the past, the KBO will not halt its regular season for the continental competition. Kim will miss a couple of weeks, giving Shin, who is not on the national team, a chance to seize the steals title. (Yonhap)