KIA Tigers infielder Kim Do-young set a personal single-season home run record and moved within one homer of becoming the youngest player in KBO League history to reach 40.
Kim, playing at home at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on the 26th against the Lotte Giants in the 2026 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League, drove a 155-kilometer-per-hour fastball from Lotte starter Elvin Rodriguez over the right-field wall for a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning.
The blast, his 39th of the season, surpassed the 38 he hit in 2024, when he was named regular-season MVP, and set a new career high for a single season.
Kim was born on Oct. 2, 2003. If he hits one more home run on or before Sept. 6, he will break the record for the youngest player to reach 40 homers, set in 1999 by Lee Seung-yuop at 22 years, 11 months and five days.
Confusion recently arose over the benchmark for the record after it emerged that the birth date Lee, a former manager, has registered with the KBO — Oct. 11, 1976, on the solar calendar — was in fact his lunar calendar birthday, corresponding to Aug. 18, 1976.
In an explanatory statement released the same day, the KBO said it has compiled age-related records based on the registration data each club submits annually, dating back to the league's inaugural season, and that it plans to keep that standard for now.
"If Kim Do-young reaches 40 home runs by Sept. 6, he will hold the record as the youngest to do so, at 22 years, 11 months and four days," the KBO said, adding that it would work out issues arising from differences between solar and lunar birth date registrations through future consultations with the clubs.
Meanwhile, at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, LG Twins slugger Austin Dean hit two home runs to heat up the home run race.
Austin, who hit for the cycle the previous day, opened the scoring with a solo shot in the bottom of the first and added a three-run homer to left field in the seventh. Now at 35 for the season, he trails Kim, the category leader, by four.
