Baseball’s Kia Tigers’ Choi Hyung-woo (41) responded to the LG Twins’ intentional four-pitch walk with a home run.
Choi Hyung-woo went 3-for-5 with a grand slam, five RBIs and one run scored while batting fourth in the lineup against the LG Twins in the 2024 Shinhan Solar Bank KBO League at Jamsil Stadium on Monday.
He was leading the league in RBIs with 73 prior to the game, and with five more RBIs, he is on pace to reach 80 RBIs.
His bat came alive early on, as he lined a single up the middle off LG starter Casey Kelly with two outs in the first inning to give his team a 1-0 lead. In the third inning, with the bases loaded, he hit a double down the left field line.
With a 5-2 lead in the sixth inning, she came to the plate in a big way.
With runners on first and second and one out, LG loaded the bases with Kim Do-young’s high fly ball. The next batter, Choi Hyung-woo, could have been a prideful moment for LG, but he came out of the gate with a cannonball to give the team a big hit.
Choi took advantage of a five-pitch slider from LG reliever Lee Sang-young for a grand slam over the right-field wall. It was his 17th home run of the season and the ninth of his career. He also rewrote the record for the oldest Korean player to hit a grand slam at 40 years, 6 months and 23 days. The previous record was held by Lee Dae-ho at 40 years, 2 months, and 30 days.
With this one hit, KIA took the lead and went on to defeat LG 11-4.
“More than the record of being the oldest Korean player to hit a home run, it felt so good to hit a home run in that situation,” Choi said after the game.
“It’s always a tough game against LG. If we don’t score, they always come after us. But it was nice to finally score,” he added.
He also didn’t mind the fact that he chose to face 카지노사이트 Kim Do-young, the leadoff hitter, instead of the other way around.
“You know my age, I don’t have any of that now. When I was younger, I actually had a little bit of it (in those situations). I just don’t feel anything now,” said Choi, who laughed. “It was one out, so I thought I had a good chance of getting a hit, so I went in with the idea of feeling good and getting a hit.”
Choi’s previous record for RBIs in a single season was 144, set in 2016 while playing for the Samsung Lions. He played 138 games at the time, racking up more RBIs than he played in and topping the list.
This season, he’s on pace, but he hasn’t set his sights on a personal best. “There may come a time when I don’t get (RBIs),” Choi said. It doesn’t make sense to keep going like this,” Choi said, adding, “My goal is to do my best right now.” “It’s good to win against the second-place team. It boosts the atmosphere and I think today’s win was good in many ways,” he laughed.
Born in December 1983, Choi Hyung-woo is in his twilight years as a player.
But age is just a number when it comes to his rust-free skills.
At the All-Star Game on June 6, Choi went 3-for-4 with a solo home run, two RBIs and one run scored, and was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP). He was named Mr. All-Star at the age of 40 years, 6 months, and 20 days, breaking the record for the oldest MVP, surpassing the record of 36 years, 8 months, and 28 days set by Byung-gyu Lee in 2011.
Even during the season, he hasn’t lost any ground to his juniors.
If he keeps up his current pace, he could become the oldest RBI hitter in KBO history. The current record is held by Larry Sutton of the Hyundai Unicorns, who was 35 years old in 2005.