Professional baseball KIA Tigers manager Lee Bum-ho took care of the leading hitter Kim Do-young (21) to the extent that he even took care of the spike himself.
KIA won 4-3 against the Kiwoom Heroes in the “2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League” at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 28th. It recorded a loosing series with one win and two losses in three consecutive weekend games, but the victory cut its three consecutive losses.
Although the team recorded the losing series, Kim Do-young showed good performance throughout the three consecutive games. In both games on the 26th and 27th, he hit home runs in three consecutive games, recording 100 points (97 games) and the youngest 100 points (20 years, 9 months and 25 days) in KBO League history. He also hit multi-hits in the game on the 28th, playing four hits in 12 at-bats, two homers, four RBIs and two runs during the three consecutive games. 토토사이트
Kim Do-young, who has a batting average of 354 (136 hits in 384 times at bat) in 98 games this season with 28 home runs, 78 RBIs, 100 runs, 29 steals, and an OPS of 1.074, 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. There is still a lot of season left, but it is already being mentioned as an MVP candidate.
Kim Do-young, who has established himself as a key player in KIA, is being carefully managed by the coaching staff. Manager Lee Bum-ho even took care of Kim Do-young’s spike himself. After seeing Kim Do-young in the pre-match training dugout on the 26th, Lee Bum-ho pointed to Kim Do-young’s spike and encouraged him, saying, “Be sure to wear those spike shoes. It’s good when you wear them.”
Kim Do-young said, “Last year, when I fractured my toe, a lot of people started to get interested in my shoes. So did the coach. These shoes were very stable and nice, but the spike didn’t come, so I wore shoes that didn’t match my style the previous series. It felt a little dull and my legs didn’t go out. So the coach told me. I was there to receive these shoes, so I take several pairs and place an order whenever I need them,” Lee explained why he cared about Kim Do-young’s spike. Kim showed good performance throughout the three consecutive games against Kiwoom in the spike he wanted.
Regarding ABS (automatic ball determination system), which was introduced for the first time this year and was highly controversial at the beginning of the season, Kim Do-young said, “I think ABS is rather good. It’s good that you don’t get ridiculous strikeouts. Setting up a strike zone is good for all seniors who are professionals, but I had a lot of difficulties because that part didn’t go well last year. This year, I started to see that part a lot, so I think I got good results and a lot of home runs.” He revealed the secret of showing good batting this year.
He is as good as he can hit, but in defense, Kim Do-young, who has recorded the most errors in the league with 23 mistakes this season, is putting as much effort into defense as he does in hitting. Kim Do-young, who admitted, “I was a little stressed out in that part, but I’m satisfied because I thought I reduced my mistakes a lot when dealing with the ball. Now that I have one, I think it’s my turn to catch the next one. The third baseman thought the start was really important, but the coaches helped me a lot. In the All-Star Game, I asked Sung-moon a lot, and he gave me similar advice as the coach, so I had a good result because I had a good faith in him,” he vowed to play a solid defense for the rest of the season.
