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KIA Tigers star Kim Do-young is putting on a relentless home run show lately. Including his 37th home run of the season yesterday (the 19th), he has cleared the fence 10 times in his last 15 games, fueling expectations for his first career home run title and raising the possibility of becoming the youngest player in history to hit 40 home runs.
Reporter Bae Jeonghun has the story.
[Reporter]
After experiencing a brief slump by failing to clear the fence in his first 7 games of the second half of the season, Kim has since unleashed the hottest home run streak of his baseball career.
After hitting a home run against the Kiwoom Heroes on the 24th of last month to end a two-week drought, he blasted his 10th arch in just 15 games yesterday—a three-run homer that put the game away in the 9th inning against the Hanwha Eagles. This brought his season total to 37 home runs, widening his lead at the top of the home run leaderboard to 5 ahead of second-place Austin of the LG Twins.
He is now just one home run away from tying his personal single-season high of 38 home runs set during his MVP season in 2024, and needs only 3 more to reach his first-ever 40-home-run milestone.
He is also raising the possibility of breaking a legendary historic record.
On July 23, 1999, former manager Lee Seung-yuop reached the 40-home-run plateau at the age of 22 years, 11 months, and 5 days to set the record for the youngest player to hit 40 home runs. Kim, born on October 2, 2003, can surpass the "Lion King" and become the youngest player to hit 40 home runs if he hits 3 more home runs before September 6 of next month.
[Kim Do-young / KIA Infielder: I feel like my batting form is coming along to the level I have in mind. So I am looking forward to it....]
Today, Kim picked up a single to left field in the 4th inning and then scored on Na Sung-bum's timely hit to drive in the go-ahead run, leading the team's pursuit of a 5-game winning streak.
(Video Editing: Lee Jae-sung | Photo courtesy of KIA Tigers)
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