Choi Jeong and Son Ah-seop, New History of Career Records… The Best Hit Product is Kim Do-young
Choi Jeong's home run and Son Ah-seop's new hit record... Kim Do-young is the first left-handed troika to record 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases in a month Ryu Hyun-jin, Yang Hyeon-jong, and Kim Kwang-hyun also have meaningful cumulative records.
Choi Jeong (37, SSG Landers), who started his professional career in 2005, and Son Ah-seop (36, NC Dinos), who entered the professional ranks in 2007, have changed the career records of the KBO League.
The 'left-handed troika' representing Korean baseball, Ryu Hyun-jin (37, Hanwha Eagles), Yang Hyeon-jong (36, KIA Tigers), and Kim Kwang-hyun (35, SSG), have also accumulated meaningful records.
However, the player who left the strongest impression in the first half of the 2024 KBO League in a short period of time was Kim Do-young (20, KIA), born in 2003.
Several monumental records were created in the first half of this year's KBO League.
At the beginning of the season, Choi Jeong heated up the field with a 'home run'. 파워볼실시간
Choi Jeong, who hit 458 home runs up until last year, hit his 10th home run of the season and his 468th career home run over the left field fence in the top of the 5th inning of an away game against the Lotte Giants held at Sajik Stadium in Busan on April 24th of this year with 2 outs and no runners on base off the first pitch from opposing starting pitcher Lee In-bok.
It was a new KBO League career home run record, surpassing Doosan Bears manager Lee Seung-yeop's 467 home runs, which was once called the "immortal record."
Manager Lee Seung-yeop hit his 352nd home run in the KBO League on June 20, 2013 while playing for the Samsung Lions, becoming the all-time home run leader, and held the title for 10 years and 10 months before handing over the "sole first place" to Choi Jeong.
Choi Jeong-do, who had confessed that he wanted to "quietly play baseball and quickly surpass Manager Lee Seung-yeop's record," set a new goal after surpassing Manager Lee Seung-yuop's record, saying, "I think I can achieve my career 500 home runs. I'm greedy."
Choi Jeong-do, who hit 21 home runs as of the 4th, continued his 19th consecutive season of double-digit home runs, the most in the KBO League, and also tied the record for the most with 20 home runs for 9 consecutive seasons.
In early summer, Son Ah-seop changed the KBO League individual career hit record.
In the top of the sixth inning of the game against Doosan at Jamsil on June 20, Son Ah-seop hit a left-field hit on the sixth pitch of opposing starting pitcher Raul Alcantara's forkball.
This is Son Ah-seop's 2,505th hit in 18 seasons, 2,044 games, and 8,834 at-bats.
KBSN Sports commentator Park Yong-taek hit his 2,319th hit on June 23, 2018 while wearing the LG Twins uniform, surpassing Baseball Foundation Chairman Yang Jun-hyeok to jump to first place in career hits, producing 2,504 hits before retirement.
As Son Ah-seop hit his 2,505th hit, the owner of the career hit lead that Park Yong-taek had held for six years has changed.
Son Ah-seop continued his hitting streak and increased his KBO career hit record to 2,511 as of the 4th.
A rising star that excites fans has also emerged.
Kim Do-young, a third-year high school infielder, has lived up to his nickname of “the second Lee Jong-beom” in the first half of this year.
Kim Do-young hit 10 home runs and stole 14 bases in April, becoming the first player in the KBO League to achieve the record of “10 home runs and 10 stolen bases in a month.”
This is a record that not even Lee Jong-beom, the synonym for a fast hitter, or Eric Thames (then with the NC Dinos), who hit 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in 2015, have achieved.
Kim Do-young, who has both accuracy and power in his hitting, and whirlwind base running, hit his 20th home run of the season against Ryu Hyun-jin on June 23, joining the 20 home run-20 stolen base club before the first half of the season was over.
Kim Do-young is the fifth player to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in the first half of the season, following Park Jae-hong in 1996 and 2000, Lee Byung-kyu in 1999, and Thames in 2015.
Kim Do-young, who achieved '20 home runs and 20 stolen bases' at the age of 20 years, 8 months, and 21 days, also enjoyed the joy of becoming the second youngest player ever to join the '20-20 Club', following Kim Jae-hyun, who joined at the age of 18 years, 11 months, and 5 days in 1994.
With 23 home runs and 26 stolen bases as of the 4th, if Kim Do-young adds 7 home runs and 4 stolen bases, he will become the first Korean player in 9 years since Thames and the first Korean player in 24 years since MBC Sports Plus commentator Park Jae-hong in 2000 to join the 30 home run and 30 stolen base club.
Although he also holds the dishonorable record of having the most errors this season (19), Kim Do-young, who made a mistake in the Samsung game on the 2nd and was replaced early, hit a home run in his first at-bat against Samsung on the 3rd, is growing day by day.
If Kim Do-young continues his run, he could even take the lead in the regular season MVP race.
Kim Do-young finished the first half of the season ranked first in runs (78), first in slugging percentage (0.622), second in home runs (23), and ninth in batting average (0.341).
On the mound, the veteran left-handed troika stimulated fans' nostalgia.
Ryu Hyun-jin, the '21st century's best Korean pitcher' who returned to Hanwha after playing in the American Major League for 11 years, achieved his 100th KBO League win (33rd), which he had been putting off.
Although he only had 5 wins (5 losses) in the first half of the season due to poor performance and bad luck at the beginning of the season, Ryu Hyun-jin drew cheers from opposing batters and fans with his excellent control.
Yang Hyun-jong and Kim Kwang-hyun, who are running toward 200 KBO wins, each earned 6 wins in the first half.
Yang Hyun-jong became the second player in history to reach 170 wins and increased his win total to 174 wins. He also
became the second player in history to reach 2,000 strikeouts (2,166).
Kim Kwang-hyun also rose to third place in career wins (164 wins) and strikeouts (1,815).