Kim Do-young (20), who has set numerous great records such as becoming the first player in the league to hit 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases in a month, hitting for the natural cycle, scoring 100 runs in a minimum number of games, and becoming the youngest player to join the 20-20 club in the first half of the season, has finally succeeded in becoming the youngest player to reach the 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases club in a minimum number of games.
Kim Do-young (20), a third-year high school graduate, began to stand out as a hotshot player in April at the beginning of the season.
Kim Do-young, who announced the birth of a superstar by becoming the first player in the KBO League to record 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases in a month by hitting a pitch from Kim Seon-gi in the game against Kiwoom on April 25, hit his 20th home run against Ryu Hyun-jin in the game against Hanwha on June 23, two weeks before the All-Star Game, becoming the fourth player in history to reach the 20-20 club in the first half of the season.
This record was followed by the original Hotta Junjok Park Jae-hong, LG’s retired number Lee Byeong-gyu, and Eric Thames, the best foreign hitter in KBO history, and was also the youngest to achieve the record throughout the entire season.
Kim Do-young’s run did not stop even in the second half of the league.
On July 23rd, at the Gwangju-Kia Champions Field, he recorded the 31st cycle hit in KBO history against NC. The cycle hit that Kim Do-young recorded that day was a rare record called natural cycling, recording a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in that order, proving that he is currently the best superstar in the KBO League and also contributing to the team’s senior Yang Hyeon-jong’s complete game win.
Kim Do-young, who has since demonstrated his ability to hit and on-base percentage as a top-tier hitter in the league, has once again achieved the record of scoring at least 100 runs in a game, proving that he is playing a key role in maintaining the team’s league lead.
Kim Do-young, who is having a great year, winning the monthly MVP award twice, was expecting many baseball fans to reach the 30 home run and 30 stolen base club.
Judging by his pace, it seemed clear that he would reach 30-30 if there were no other issues, and with his 29th home run of the season against Hanwha on the 3rd, he was just one home run away from joining the 30-30 club with about 40 games left in the league.
However, perhaps because they were overly conscious of achieving a record, Kim Do-young’s home runs were not coming out after that, and the team’s performance worsened, and it seemed like they were being chased by the second-place LG Twins, so many people’s attention was focused on the fierce competition between the teams in the league.
However, in the game between the 2024 KBO KIA Tigers and Kiwoom Heroes on the 15th, in the top of the 5th inning with KIA leading 3-1, Kim Do-young, who was the team’s 3rd hitter, hit a 149 km/h fastball from Kiwoom’s ace foreign starting pitcher Heisus in his third at-bat, and hit his 30th home run of the season over the center wall of the Gocheok Sky Dome, which was packed with 16,000 spectators, finally putting the final piece of the puzzle together to achieve the great record of 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases.
Kim Do-young’s entry into the 30-30 club is the 9th record in KBO history, and he also holds the title of the youngest (20 years, 10 months, and 13 days) and the fewest games (111 games) to achieve it. It is the first record in 9 years since Eric Thames in 2015, and the first in 24 years since Park Jae-hong’s 30-30 record during his time with the Hyundai Unicorns in 2000 by a Korean native hitter.
Kim Do-young, who contributed to the team’s comeback victory in the second half of the season by scoring a run with a timely double to bring in Choi Won-jun, who walked him in the top of the ninth inning while the team was down 2-0 against the second-place LG Twins at Jamsil on the 16th, and a go-ahead two-run home run by Na Sung-beom, is clearly leading the season MVP race, and with exactly 30 league games left, attention is also focused on whether he can achieve the unrivaled record of 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases achieved by Eric Thames in 2015.
