There's plenty of pop left in these old bats

Baseball

Published: 21 Apr. 2022, 16:06 Updated: 21 Apr. 2022, 16:19

There's plenty of pop left in these old bats

Lee Dae-ho hits a home run in the fifth inning of a game against the Hanwha Eagles at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

Lotte Giants veteran slugger Lee Dae-ho hit his second home run of the 2022 KBO season on Wednesday, sending the ball high over the recently-raised left field wall at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan.

At 39 years old, Lee is set to retire at the end of this season. Lee is bowing out after 17 seasons in the KBO, all with the Giants, four seasons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball with the Orix Buffaloes and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and a year in the majors with the Seattle Mariners.

Yet despite a long and impressive career and the goodwill built up over years as one of the KBO's most popular players, Lee clearly isn't looking for an easy year as he gradually fades into retirement. Instead, the six-time Golden Glove winner has approached his swan song season still swinging for the fences.

After 15 games so far this season as of press time Thursday, Lee has a .377 batting average with 20 hits, 10 runs, eight RBIs and two home runs for a slugging percentage at .528.

Those numbers are good enough to see Lee land at No. 5 in the KBO for batting average, No. 6 for slugging percentage and runs and No. 7 for hits, all very high rankings for a man who is supposed to be looking for a new job in November.

Although April stats are rarely representative of the rest of the year, Lee's performance so far suggests he could well be looking at going out on one of his best seasons in recent years. The Giants have also benefited as well, currently sitting in fifth place in the KBO with eight wins and seven losses, a serious step up from their eighth-place finish last year.

Lee isn't the only of the KBO's veteran sluggers proving that there's still plenty of pop left in the league's older bats.

Kim Hyun-soo hits a home run in the 11th inning of a game against the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on April 6. [YONHAP]

Kim Hyun-soo, the 34-year-old talismanic leader of the second-place LG Twins squad, has a .328 batting average after appearing in all 16 games so far this season, picking up 11 runs and 10 RBIs off of 20 hits with four home runs. Kim leads the league for home runs, alongside Lotte's Han Dong-hui, and ranks third for runs, seventh for hits and eighth for RBIs.

Kim started his season in especially explosive fashion, hitting home runs on three consecutive nights against the Kiwoom Heroes in the first week of the season, knocking all three long balls over the exact same spot on the outfield wall.

Han Yoo-seom, 32, Choi Jeong, 35, and Choi Joo-hwan, 34, of the SSG Landers have already proven especially productive at the plate, with Han leading the league with a huge 22 RBIs already this season. Han is also pacing the league in hits, at 25, and batting average, at .424, while ranking second in runs scored, at 12.

Han Yoo-seom runs to first base after hitting a single against the Samsung Lions at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Choi Jeong ranks second in batting average, at .404, while Choi Joo-hwan has managed to turn only nine knocks into 11 RBIs.

The three have been a big part of a dominant Landers squad this season, currently sitting comfortably in first place with 14 wins and just two losses as of press time.

But while many of the KBOs bats have got off to a strong start this spring, the new season isn't working out for everybody.

Yang Eui-ji, the NC Dinos captain who just two years ago had a 33-home-run season to lead the Changwon club to their first pennant and Korean Series title, is struggling with a .094 batting average on the season so far.

Having only appeared in nine games to date, Yang has picked up just three hits with four RBIs and a single run from a homer on Wednesday.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]