Noesi has a 3.16 ERA across a league-high 116 2/3 innings and has 87 strikeouts against 23 walks.

While the strikeout total may not jump out, Noesi has been getting it done by keeping hitters off balance with an array of pitches. Hector can throw his fastballs at over 150 kmh (93 mph) and has an excellent command of his changeups, curves and sliders.

Cha Myung-suk, former pitcher and now a TV analyst, said Noesi has been "an extremely difficult pitcher for hitters to figure out."

"Hector has been fooling hitters with two types of curves; he can throw them fast or slow," Cha said. "As far as managing games and changing speeds, he has been brilliant. Nippert may be a harder thrower, but Hector may have a higher baseball IQ."

It also has helped that the Tigers have given him plenty of offensive support, having scored 9.41 runs per Noesi's start. The Tigers are ranked first in the KBO in batting average (.310), runs scored (573), hits (926), total bases (1,436) and batting average with runners in scoring position (.344).

"It's hard for pitchers not to do well when the offense scores so many runs," Cha said. "It's interesting that whenever the Tigers scored a bunch of runs, Noesi also gave up a few runs. And when he didn't get much run support, he managed to hold the opponents at bay too."

Indeed, when Noesi allowed his season-worst six earned runs in five innings against the Bears on June 21, the Tigers bailed him out with 20 runs. On July 4, when Noesi was touched for four earned runs in six innings versus the SK Wyverns, his offense put up 15 runs on the board.

Prior to arriving in South Korea, Noesi was perhaps best known for being traded by the New York Yankees to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for a hot-shot pitching prospect Michael Pineda.

After a season and a half in the KBO, Noesi can rest assured that the Tigers aren't going to ship him anywhere, given the way he's been dealing. (Yonhap)