Professional baseball KIA Tigers Kim Do-young (21) is showing off his scary batting sense.
Kim Do-young started the game against the Kiwoom Heroes in the “2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League” at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 26th and played 1 hit, 1 home run, 2 RBIs and 1 run in 4 at-bats.
Kim took the batter’s box in the top of the first inning with one out and runners on the first base, and struck out swinging. However, in the second batter’s box with one out and runners on the first base in the third inning with Kia leading 1-0, Kim In-beom scored a 127-km slider at the third pitch to hit a two-run homer over the left-center fence. The flying distance measured 125 meters. Kia lost four to five despite Kim’s performance, falling from behind to lose for two consecutive games.
Kim Do-young, who is active in 96 games this season with a batting average of 354 (133 hits in 376 times at bat) 27 home runs, 76 RBIs, 99 runs, 29 steals, and an OPS of 1.070, is having a historic season, achieving 10 home runs-10 steals per month for the first time in KBO league history in April and 20 home runs-20 steals in the first half for the fifth time ever. In the game, he hit home runs in two consecutive games, leaving only three home runs and one stolen base to achieve his first 30 home runs-30 steals.
“I didn’t think I was especially bad at breaking balls,” Kim Do-young, who hit a slider off NC’s starting pitcher Kyle Hart in the game against NC on the 25th, said in an interview before the game. “I don’t think I’m good at breaking balls. I think I’m just looking at the pitcher’s tendency. I prepare for the game by thinking about what kind of pitches I throw a lot and which kind of pitches I use as a game ball.”
Kim Do-young, who joined Kia as the first nominee for the 2022 Rookie Draft, had a somewhat disappointing performance in his first year with a batting average of 237 (53 hits in 224) in 103 games, three homers, 19 RBIs, 37 runs, 13 steals, and OPS.674. KIA manager Lee Bum-ho said, “If Kim Do-young had a good performance from the first year, he might not have been able to perform now.”
In response, Kim Do-young said, “If I had done well from the first year as the coach said, I would not have been as good as I am now. I think I am doing well now because I have had a hard time. I thought about that a lot this year. I had a hard time last year because of the injury, but I think I had that hard time last year to do well this year,” stressing that he has performed well this year thanks to his experience of struggling in the first two years.
Kim Do-young, who still has a lot of seasons left, said, “I’m not even thinking about MVP at all. I’m just thinking about a month and a month, and I’m cutting it a little short. Last year and the year before last, I thought that if I become a professional, it will be easy to calculate and get good results by cutting 100 at-bats, so I’m focusing on doing well for a month and a month. My goal for August is to widen the game gap to confirm the first place,” he said, adding that he will focus more on the immediate game.
Fans began to talk about Kim’s advance to the Major League beyond MVP. “I thought about it once because the Major League kept talking about it,” Kim said with a smile. “But I think it’s too far to think about it. If you pay attention to the present and do well every year, you will have a chance,” Kim said. “The first thing to do is to play well in the KBO League.” 업소알바
