Professional baseball KIA has won its first regular league title in seven years since 2017 and acquired a ticket to go straight to the Korean Series. The victory was a “joy” achieved by the coaching staff and the team, including the batting line and the depth of the mound, where replacements were constantly appearing despite the “oldest leadership” of Lee Bum-ho, the prepared head coach who filled the sudden replacement of former coach Kim Jong-kook.
Nevertheless, Lee’s growth is a must-have for sure. Kim Do-young (21), a third-year infielder who proved his potential over the past two years but failed to fully bloom due to injury until the 2022 season when he was a rookie and the 2023 season when he was in the second year, is the hero. In fact, in the 2024 season, the first full-time year, Kim has emerged as a superstar representing the entire KBO League beyond KIA. Beyond the “second Lee Jong-beom” he heard when he joined the team, he is now showing off his undeniable presence as the “first Kim Do-young.” It is no exaggeration to say that he is the best hit product in the KBO League this season.
Kim rushed from the beginning of the season. In March, when six games were held after the season’s opening, Kim had a sluggish start with a batting average of 0.154 (40 hits in 24 at-bats) and zero homers and one RBI, but it exploded in April. He had a batting average of 0.385 (40 hits in 104 at-bats) with 10 homers, 25 RBIs and 14 steals. He was the first player in the history of the KBO to hit 10 homers and 10 steals per month.
From then on, Kim Do-young’s “record breaker” instinct began to show. He became the fifth player in history to join the 20-20 club in the first half, recording 23 home runs and 26 steals in the first half alone. On July 23, against Gwangju NC, he hit a hit in the first inning, a double in the third inning, a triple in the fifth inning, and a home run in the sixth inning in succession to achieve a “natural cycling hit” (a record of hitting a single to a home run in succession). It was the second record after Lotte’s Kim Eung-guk in 1996, but Kim Eung-guk hit a double and a triple home run after being grounded out to shortstop after a hit, achieving it in five at-bats. Kim Do-young will remain the record holder of natural cycling hits at least at bat.
Kim did not stop. He became the youngest player ever to hit 30 home runs and 30 steals, and the third player ever to score 30 home runs and 30 steals and 100 RBIs and 100 RBIs.
With his team’s direct ticket to the Korean Series confirmed, Kim will become the second Korean player to challenge the record of 40 homers and 40 steals, following Eric Thames (then from NC, 47 homers and 40 steals) in 2015, and the first Korean player to do so. Kim, who has 37 homers and 39 steals as of Thursday, only needs to add three homers and one steal in the remaining seven games. One steal does not seem very difficult, but three homers will eventually be the key.
Even without success in joining the 40-40 club, Kim has already emerged as the KBO league’s best superstar due to his syndrome-level popularity. It is no exaggeration to say that Kim Do-young actually has his name written in three letters on the MVP of the regular league. Attention is focusing on whether he will win the MVP award by joining the 40-40 club.
Kim has achieved most of the personal records that she can achieve in just three years, but her ambition never stops. She is committed to catching both rabbits in team performance by achieving the Korean Series championship. “I want to continue to stay at No. 1 now. I want to build the Kia dynasty as long as I am here,” Kim said at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Monday when Kia’s regular league championship was confirmed.
Based on the years held as a single league, Kia has won the seventh regular season title after 1991, 1993, 1996-1997, 2009, and 2017. Although the number of regular season titles is a little smaller than expected, Kia has advanced to the Korean Series 11 times including its predecessor, Haitai, and won the title in all of them. It is truly an invincible myth.
Kim Do-young is also well aware of this. “If I come all the way here and I don’t win the Korean Series, I don’t think winning the first place in the regular season means anything,” Kim said. “I will make sure to win the Korean Series.”
Kim Do-young said of the regular league MVP, “I didn’t have any greed before or during the season, but I want to try it because I’m coming up little by little.”
However, he explained that he will not make any changes to achieve 40-40.” “The coach told me to play with confidence in three balls because I had a little leeway even before the magic number was over, so I’m playing more comfortably at bat,” Kim Do-young said. “I don’t think there will be much difference in the future, and if I pay attention to detail, I think I’ll get good results.” 메이저사이트