Perhaps, he wished that time would not come near. KIA Tigers’ Kim Do-young finally reached the 30-point of 30 mistake and joined another “30” club. It is the “30 Home Run-30 Steal-30 Mistake” club.
Kim Do-young started as the first batter and third baseman in an away game against the Doosan Bears in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 19th, recording one hit, one run and one walk from four times at bat and two mistakes. KIA lost 4-9 as its batters struggled against Doosan starter Choi Seung-yong (four hits and three runs in six innings) amid unfavorable factors for starter Eric Stout (four hits and three runs in one ⅔ inning) to go down the mound early due to an unexpected injury.
Kim Do-young, who was placed in the batting order of No. 1, which is the second batter in the KBO League and the first batter in Korea to play at the 40-40 club, raised expectations by hitting long balls from the first batter’s box. As the leadoff hitter in the top of the first inning, he hit Choi Seung-yong’s second pitch of 128km/h slider, and hit a triple at Jamsil Stadium in the middle of the fence. It was a huge hit that could have been his 38th homer if it had been in another stadium, which was regrettable. 안전놀이터
With the next batter Park Chan-ho’s walk and steal to the second and third bases with no outs, Kim Do-young homered and scored his 135th run of the season when third batter Kim Sun-bin grounded out to the second base. With this score, Kim tied Seo Geon-chang’s record of 135 points scored in a single season in 2014.
Kim was out after hitting a fly ball to the center field at the second batter’s box in the top of the third inning, but gave up some points in the bottom of the third inning due to poor defense. With Kia trailing 2-5 with runners on the first and third bases with two outs, first baseman Byun Woo-hyuk and first baseman Ryu Yoo-chan’s common infield fly ball delayed the hit before hitting the ball. Meanwhile, third baseman Kang Seung-ho homered and lost a point. It was Kim Do-young’s 29th error of the season.
In the third at-bat in the fifth inning, Kim unfortunately withdrew due to a fly ball to the center field that flew to the fence, but committed his second error in the sixth inning. When KIA was trailing 3-7, it failed to catch Heo Kyung-min’s ground ball at the bottom of the sixth inning and spilled it backward, and in the meantime, second baseman Chung Soo-bin made it to the home ground. Both errors resulted in a loss, and Kim ended up losing his 30th error of the season.
With this error, Kim Do-young became the first person in the 43-year history of the KBO League to set a rare record of “30 home runs-30 steals-30 mistakes.” Kim Do-young, who had 37 home runs-39 steals and left three home runs-1 steals to join the dream 40-40 club, made a disgraceful record with two errors instead of the long-awaited home run.
Even in the more than 100 years of MLB history, only Howard Johnson has achieved 30 homers, 30 steals, and 30 mistakes in a single season. Johnson was a hot spot infielder who joined the 30-30 club three times in 1987 (36 homers – 32 steals), 1989 (36 homers – 41 steals) and 1991 (38 homers – 30 steals).
However, he made as many mistakes as homers and stolen bases. Notably, he made as many as 31 mistakes (18 on third base, 11 on shortstop, 2 on right field) in 1991, opening the first and only 30-30 club (38 on 30 homers, 30 steals, 31 on 30) in the MLB. Coincidentally, Johnson was in the same main position as Kim Do-young as third baseman. At the time, Johnson recorded a batting average of 0.259, which means he is the only one in Korea and the U.S. when limited to 30-30 on 30-30.
Kim Do-young, whose main position was shortstop in high school, also received good reviews for his defense, including his wide range based on fast feet and strong shoulders. However, Kim, who is playing the first full-time season of this year’s hot corner, third base, has seen more errors in his catch as he handled strong balls, and he has strong shoulders but poor accuracy, which only piled up errors.
Among the KBO League 30-30 club players, Lee Jong-beom, who recorded the most errors in a season, is compared to Kim Do-young’s growth model. Lee Jong-beom, who had a monstrous season in 1997 with 30 home runs and 64 steals, recorded a whopping 27 errors that year.
Blunders are like a kind of “tax” that prospective players pay to gain experience while they are growing. Kim Do-young’s batting average of 0.344, 37 homers, 105 RBIs, 135 runs, 39 steals, and OPS of 1.064 is so outstanding that the “30 mistakes” tax may not feel too high. However, it is a different story if this kind of performance is reflected in the Korean Series. It remains to be seen whether Kim Do-young’s defense capability at hot corners will be a source of anxiety in the fall baseball.