Kim Do-yeong caps off huge season with KBO MVP award

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Kim Do-yeong caps off huge season with KBO MVP award

Published: 26 Nov. 2024, 17:09 Updated: 26 Nov. 2024, 17:19

PAIK JI-HWAN
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Kia Tigers third baseman Kim Do-yeong speaks after winning the 2024 KBO MVP award at Lotte Hotel World in southern Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Kia Tigers infielder Kim Do-yeong won the 2024 KBO MVP award on Tuesday, claiming the league's top honor after a remarkable run that led his team to sweep both the league and Korean Series titles this season.

Kim, 21, saw huge success throughout the 2024 season. The third baseman became the second-youngest player ever to join the KBO 20-20 club in June and the youngest to join the 30-30 club in August. He just missed out on the 40-40 club, finishing with 38 home runs and 40 steals.

On top of that, Kim became the first player in KBO history to record at least 10 home runs and 10 steals in a single month in April, and capped off one of the best offensive seasons in KBO history by hitting for the cycle in July, and even then he went the extra mile, hitting a natural cycle — a single, double, triple and home run in that order — in four at-bats for the first time in league history.

All that in just his third season since turning pro.

“I am really honored to win this big MVP award at this big ceremony,” Kim said at Lotte Hotel World in southern Seoul on Tuesday. “I thank manager Lee Bum-ho who helped me get here. I also want to say thank you to my family who supports me.

“I am honored to have received this big award in a year when the Tigers swept both titles. I will work hard to help my team with a humble attitude. I did not expect that I would be this famous in the beginning of the season as I was too busy, but I saw many articles about me in the middle of the season as I played okay. I saw articles saying that players like me need to develop Korean baseball, so I worked hard and did many things off the pitch that could attract the public’s eyes. I want to taking a leading role in developing Korean baseball even after I get older. But I will still stay humble.”

His notable performance in the 2024 season also earned him a place in the Korean national baseball team that competed at the 2024 WSBC Premier12 — an international tournament featuring the top 12 teams on the WSBC’s end-of-2023 world rankings.

Although Korea failed to reach the Super Round, Kim batted .412 with a 1.503 plus through three home runs and two doubles among seven hits across five games in the tournament.

Doosan Bears closer Kim Taek-yeon, 19, won the Rookie of the Year award. Kim recorded a 2.08 ERA on the season with 78 strikeouts in 65 innings, in addition to 19 saves — a league record for a rookie. The award makes him the eighth Bears players to win the honor.

Doosan Bears closer Kim Taek-yeon speaks after winning the 2024 KBO best rookie award at Lotte Hotel World in southern Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

“I did not think about winning [the award], but once the season ended, I thought maybe I have a chance,” Kim said. “As this was my first year, and I have a lot to learn, I wanted to show on the mound that age is just a number. I wanted to throw a ball like no other 19-year olds, and that desire translated into my play.”

Even before his successful run with the Bears this season, Kim received a call to join the national team for the MLB exhibition games against the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in March during which he struck out two batters: Two-time Silver Slugger winner Teoscar Hernandez and James Outman.

Kim also made it onto the Premier12 roster, although he failed to pull off a strong performance.

The 2024 season was also a meaningful year for the KBO itself, with the league surpassing a record 10 million spectators for the first time.

KBO Commissioner Heo Koo-youn, front row center, poses with the winners at the 2024 KBO Awards at Lotte Hotel World in southern Seoul on Tuesday. 2024 KBO MVP Kim Do-yeong sits to the right of Heo, with Rookie of the Year Kim Taek-yeon on the left. [NEWS1] [NEWS1]

The KBO set a new record for the best single-season attendance in August with 8,475,664 fans in just 573 games — about 80 percent of the way through the calendar. The league went on to reach the 10-million-mark milestone in September.

The regular season stayed competitive through the end, with the Landers playing the KT Wiz in the first-ever fifth-place tiebreaker for the final postseason spot.

But one record that stayed the same was the Tigers’ winning streak in the Korean Series — the culmination of the postseason — where they extended their unbeaten run in the series with a win over the Lions.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]