Kim Do-young, the youngest batter to become MVP, will be sealed 40-40! Coach Lee Bum-ho also said, "At least one person should come out in Korea."
Kim Do-young, the youngest batter to become MVP, will be sealed 40-40! Coach Lee Bum-ho also said, "At least one person should come out in Korea."
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Kim Do-young (21), the first contributor to the KIA Tigers' regular ranking, will now challenge the KBO's first history. Manager Lee Bum-ho (43) also promised to provide clear support for the challenge.안전놀이터
Kim Do-young started as the third batter and third baseman of the SSG Landers and 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League regular season visiting game at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 17th and recorded 1 hit and 1 walk in 4 at-bats.
KIA lost 0-2, but the magic number disappeared as the second-place Samsung Lions lost to the Doosan Bears 4-8 ahead of them. At the same time, it confirmed the first place in the regular season in seven years, ahead of Samsung, which had 83 wins, 2 draws and 52 losses, 75 wins, 2 draws and 60 losses.
The reason why Kia was able to rank No. 1 in the regular season this year was largely attributable to Kim Do-young, who entered the league in his third year as a pro. Kim, who appeared like a comical figure dubbed the "second Lee Jong-beom," has burst his potential this year. He has a batting average of 0.344 (178 hits in 517 times at bat) in 134 games, 37 homers, 105 RBIs, 134 runs and 39 steals, and a on-base-plus-slugging percentage of 0.646 OPS of 1.063, breaking records that even Lee Jong-beom failed to achieve.
The player himself has made no secret of his ambition to become the first MVP in his career. If 20-year-old Kim wins the regular season MVP award, he will be the youngest batter ever. The previous record was held by current Doosan Bears coach Lee Seung-yeop, who played for Samsung in 1997, at the age of 21 years, one month, and 14 days. "It is true that I want to become MVP this year when my team wins the championship," Kim said in an interview after securing the top spot in the regular season. "I want to have this kind of season. I think it will be my motivation to maintain a good record until the end of the season."
Kim Do-young's likely competitor was Kyle Hart, 32, a foreign ace with the NC Dinos. Hart, who started his career in the KBO league this season, recorded 13 wins and two losses with a 2.44 ERA and 172 strikeouts in 151 innings. Although he has been on the mound several times due to injury, he is seeking to win four titles including the second place with multiple wins, the first place with a strikeout, and the first place with a winning percentage (0.867).
If he succeeds in winning four gold medals, he is the sixth foreign pitcher to become the first foreign pitcher after Sun Dong-yeol (Haitai) from 1989 to 1991, Koo Dae-sung (Hanwha) from 1996, and Yoon Seok-min (KIA) from 2011. Sun Dong-yeol was the only four-time pitcher who failed to win the MVP award during the regular season in 1991. He recently lost the top spot in the multiple wins and strikeouts category due to dizziness due to hamstring pain, but is not out for the season yet.
In contrast, Kim is gaining momentum again. In fact, if Hart wins four gold medals, it was hard to guarantee that Kim would be the MVP. As of Sept. 14, when Hart was removed from the first team, Kim was overwhelmingly No. 1 in scoring and slugging percentage, but he did not have an individual title in the classic stat, ranking third in batting average, fourth in hits, second in homers, seventh in RBIs, sixth in stolen bases, and fourth in on-base percentage.
However, Hart left the game against Suwon KT on the 16th with two homers, three homers and one stolen base, giving him an advantage in winning the MVP award. In the history of the KBO, 40 homers and 40 steals is a milestone that only Eric Thames (NC Dinos) made in 2015, so if he achieves it, he will seal the MVP race.
Coach Lee Bum-ho also expressed his willingness to proactively support his student's challenge. "If (Kim) Do-young is likely to play 40-40 games, I thought he would play in Suwon or Incheon and achieve it at his home stadium," Lee said in an interview before the game on Wednesday. "But he hit two in Suwon."
"I think at least one Korean player (who did 40-40) should come out to this point. That's why we are agonizing over many things. Once the schedule is decided, the order of batting will also be changed to allow more players to play at bat. Creating such an opportunity is what I have to do. I will prepare to play at bat without getting injured," he said.