The best leadoff notice in a single season in the club’s history is seen. Samsung Lions’ Kim Ji-chan (23) will challenge the club’s first record with an explosive rise in the second half of the year.
Samsung (76 wins, 61 losses and two draws), which is highly likely to advance directly to the playoffs as the second-ranked team in the league, has become the team’s color this season. It exploded 177 home runs in 139 games, beating the second-ranked NC Dinos (166), and is poised to become the No. 1 home run player in 21 years. Starting with Koo Ja-wook, the team’s captain who hit 31 home runs, three hitters with 20 home runs and six hitters with 10 home runs. The number of people with seven or more home runs will increase to a whopping nine.
In the batting lineup, which is focused on slugging, leadoff Kim Ji-chan is the only slugger among the main players in his team. Kim Ji-chan, who is shorter than 163 centimeters, has fully awakened to the peak of his batting career this season. He has confirmed his career high in almost all indicators with a batting average of 0.316 (442 hits in 449) with three homers, 36 RBIs, 101 runs and 42 steals in 134 games.
His great strides in the second half of the year are particularly impressive. In the first half, Kim Ji-chan had a batting average of 0.292, on-base percentage of 0.379, and slugging percentage of 0.358, which was similar to or slightly lower than that of last year. In the second half, however, he succeeded in step-up with a batting average of 0.354, on-base percentage of 0.449, and a slugging percentage of 0.429, making him one of the 메이저놀이터 best hitters in Korea.
If the range is narrowed down to September, the batting average will increase to 0.375-on-base percentage of 0.468-base percentage of 0.500. Marking the 3-4-5 slash line, the symbol of a slugger, he is displaying his peak performance.
With Samsung remaining in five games, Kim Ji-chan can continue his record of only five players (six times) if he maintains the on-base percentage in the remaining games. He has achieved the on-base percentage at the same time of 40%-100 and 40 steals.
It is an indicator that can only be achieved by a player with three beats of on-base-fast foot-scoring, which is the virtue of leadoff. Earlier in the KBO League, Lee Jong-beom reached twice in 1994 and 1997, followed by Jung Soo-geun in 1999, Seo Geon-chang in 2014, Eric Thames in 2015 and Son Ah-seop in 2016.
None of the Samsung players has come out yet. In 2016, Park Hae-min scored 109 points and stole 52 bases, but his on-base percentage (0.357) was far below 40%. This year, Kim Ji-chan scored fewer runs and stole less than Park, but instead, he maintained his on-base percentage (0.407) in the .400 range for the second consecutive year, approaching the milestone. On top of that, he has surpassed both his batting average of .300 and his 140-hit mark, and is on the verge of becoming the best leadoff in a single season in the club’s history.
Kim Ji-chan, who was drafted by Samsung with the 15th overall pick in the second round of the 2020 KBO League Rookie Draft, has faced a turning point in his career after changing his position from second baseman to center fielder ahead of this season. Unlike experiencing a slump due to defensive errors when he was an infielder, he is showing good performance in the outfield with a wide range of defense using fast feet. On top of that, he has been reborn as a “buckoo” for Samsung with impressive performances in hitting and running base.
