Records abound on field, in stands in 2024 KBO season


From the single-season attendance record to new career marks in home runs, hits and strikeouts, there was no shortage of memorable numbers in the 2024 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season.

While veterans swung and pitched their way into record books, a 20-year-old MVP candidate also enjoyed a historic campaign.

Kim Do-yeong, third baseman for the Kia Tigers, had 38 home runs and 40 steals, coming up two homers short of just the second 40-40 season in KBO history. He also led the league with a .647 slugging percentage and 143 runs scored, a new single-season record. In April, Kim tallied 10 homers and 14 steals to become the first player ever to reach double figures in those categories in a single month. In July, he completed the first natural cycle without being retired, recording a single, a double, a triple and a home run in order.

The following month, Kim became the youngest and also the fastest player to reach 30-30. He finished his year on Monday as the third player in league history with at leas
t a .300 batting average, 30 homers, 30 steals, 100 RBIs and 100 runs in a season.

Career leaderboards welcomed new faces at the top this year.

SSG Landers slugger Choi Jeong became the new lifetime home run leader on April 24, hitting his 468th career homer to move past Samsung Lions legend Lee Seung-yuop. Choi finished the season with 495 homers, five away from becoming the charter member of the 500-home run club.

On June 20, the KBO crowned the new hit king, as Son Ah-seop of the NC Dinos reached 2,505th hit with a single against the Doosan Bears and dethroned former LG Twins star Park Yong-taik. Son, who missed a big chunk of the season with a knee injury, finished the season with 2,511 hits.

Then on Aug. 21, Kia Tigers starter Yang Hyeon-jong recorded his 2,049th strikeout to climb to the top of the career leaderboard. Yang ended this season with 2,076 strikeouts.

Kim was the only hitter to lead the KBO in multiple categories.

Victor Reyes of the Lotte Giants set the single-season hit record with 2
02, thanks to his two-hit effort against the NC Dinos in their season finale on Tuesday.

In the power department, Matt Davidson of the Dinos, a former 20-homer man with the Chicago White Sox, led the KBO with 46 home runs. He was the first 40-homer slugger in the KBO since 2020.

Foreign hitters dominated the offensive leaderboards, with Guillermo Heredia winning the batting title at .360 and Austin Dean of the LG Twins topping the RBI department with 132.

Dean’s teammate, Hong Chang-ki, led the KBO in on-base percentage for the second straight season at .447. Jo Soo-haeng of the Doosan Bears swiped 64 bags to come out on top.

On the pitching side, two South Korean pitchers shared the lead in wins for the first time since 2001. Won Tae-in of the Samsung Lions and Gwak Been of the Bears each won 15 games.

Dinos left-hander Kyle Hart, who had been in contention for a Triple Crown, ended up winning just the strikeout title with 182. James Naile of the Kia Tigers won the ERA title with 2.53.

Tigers closer Ju
ng Hai-young recorded the league-leading 31 saves.

Fans came out in droves to see these accomplishments and more. The KBO broke its attendance record on Aug. 18, eclipsing the previous mark of 8,400,688 fans in 2017, and surpassed 10 million on Sept. 15.

Fittingly enough, the final regular-season game between the Giants and the Dinos at Changwon NC Park in Changwon, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was played before a sellout crowd of 17,891. That pushed the season total to 10,887,705.

All 10 teams averaged over 10,000 fans per game at home, and a record six clubs surpassed 1 million fans in total. The Hanwha Eagles set a record with 47 sellouts, and the league had 221 sellouts overall, also a record.

Source: Yonhap News Agency