Lotte’s foreign hitter Victor Reyes (30) is trying to set a new record for the most hits in a single KBO league season.
Reyes maintained the top spot in the league with 162 hits in 115 games he played as of Wednesday. With 1.408 hits per game, he can accumulate 203-204 arithmetically if he plays the rest of the regular season without injury.
Currently, the record for the most hits in a single season in the KBO league is 201, which Seo Kun-chang (KIA Tigers) broke in 2014 when he was a member of the Nexen Heroes (currently Kiwoom). On October 17, the final game of the regular season, he opened the era of 200 hits for the first time in the KBO league with a double to the right in the bottom of the first inning against the SK Wyverns (current SSG Landers), and increased the new record to 201 with a double to the right-center in the eighth inning.
Seo Geon-chang’s 200 hits came from the regular season of 128 games per team under the “nine-team” system. The KBO League has been playing 144 games per team under the 10-team system since the 2015 season when KT Wiz entered the league. 스포츠토토
No matter which batter hits 200 hits in the future, it will be difficult to directly compare Seo’s record in the 2014 season. However, he cannot be undervalued. He played 16 more games per team, but managed injuries, conditions and hits well. In the 2022 season, Ahn Woo-jin, the starting pitcher of Kiwoom, recorded 224 strikeouts, and broke the previous record of 223 strikeouts among Korean pitchers in a single season set by the late Choi Dong-won during the 1984 season.
Reyes’ challenge to break the record number of hits is also drawing attention in this regard. Reyes, who joined the KBO league this season, was highly anticipated as a mid- to long-distance player with good contact capabilities. Young Lotte fielders had ups and downs, and veteran Jeon Jun-woo left the team in mid-May due to calf injury. Reyes alone recorded a batting average of over 300 every month, consistently maintaining good batting performance.
In fact, Reyes does not have the sole lead in the “most hits” category. As of Tuesday, he was only two players apart from SSG Landers Guillermo Herredia and KT Wiz Mel Rojas Jr. as of Wednesday. However, Reyes still has more games to play than the other two. Lotte had six less games than SSG and seven less than KT.
Reyes is the only Lotte batter who played in all games (114 games) his team played. Not only does he take care of himself but he also has a strong sense of professionalism. Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung, who was stingy with compliments, also said, “I am grateful that a foreign player is playing hard in all games like this, and I want to compliment him.”
Son Ah-seop (currently NC Dinos) left 193 hits in the 2017 season for the most hits in a single season for Lotte players. If Reyes continues his current hitting sense without injury, he is expected to break a new Lotte club record without difficulty.
Many records are at stake, including the record of the most hits in a single season, the first 200 hits for foreign batters, and the most hits in Lotte’s history. Reyes’ performance also affects Lotte’s race, which continues its hope to advance to the postseason (PS).