Do-yeong Kim

Do-yeong Kim (김도영)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 187 lb

• High School Gwangju Dongsung High School

• Born October 2, 2003 in Gwangju South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Do-yeong Kim has played in the Korea Baseball Organization and for the South Korean national team.

Kim represented South Korea in the 2021 U-23 Baseball World Cup, hitting .353/.542/.412 with six walks in six games, scoring six runs. The KIA Tigers selected him in the first round of the 2022 KBO draft, and he hit .237/.312/.362 with 3 homers in 103 games in his rookie year. He missed the first two months of the 2023 season due to ankle injuries, and he ended up hitting .303/.371/.453 with 7 homers and 20 steals. Kim then represented South Korea in the 2023 Asia Professional Baseball Championship. He was 1-for-4, with a game-tying RBI double against Daniel McGrath of Australia, then he went 1-for-4 against Japan. Kim collected a RBI single against Yen-Cheng Wang of Chinese Taipei, and he was 0-for-4 in the Gold Medal game versus Japan. South Korea lost due to Makoto Kadowaki's walk-off single.

The Gwangju native had one of the greatest seasons in KBO history in 2024. On April 25, he crushed his 10th homer of the month against Seon-gi Kim, and he became the first KBO player to collect 10 homers and 10 steals in a month. He joined the 20-20 club, against Hyun-Jin Ryu on June 23, and he became the youngest player to reach this benchmark. Kim was selected into the 2024 KBO All-Star Game, and he went 1-for-5. He hit for a cycle on July 23, and he became the first player to complete a natural cycle in 4 at-bats. He got his 100th run on July 27, and he was the youngest player to did it. He only used 97 games to get his 100th run, and it was the fewest in KBO history. Kim joined the 30-30 club on August 15, and he was the first local player to accomplish it since Jong-beom Lee did it 27 years prior. He was also the first Tigers player to get 30-30, and he was the youngest player to hit 30 homers in KBO history.

On September 16, Kim crushed his 37th homer of the season, and he broke the team record for most homers in a season. He broke Geon-chang Seo's KBO single season runs record on September 23 with a leadoff homer, and he set the team record with his 10th triple of the season on September 25. On September 30, Kim collected his 143rd run, and he tied Makoto Kozuru's Asian professional record. He ended up hitting .340/.420/.647 with 38 homers and 40 steals in the 2024 season, and he led the league in triples, total bases, runs, slugging, OPS and WRC+. He was 3rd in batting (between Víctor Reyes and Ja-wook Koo), 2nd in homers (8 behind Matt Davidson), 8th in RBI (between Reyes and Sung-mun Song), 3rd in hits (tied with Mel Rojas Jr.) and 6th in steals (24 behind Soo-haeng Jo). He won the KBO MVP for his efforts, getting 95 of 101 votes; Reyes was second with 3. The Tigers won the 2024 Korean Series, and Kim was 4-for-17 with a homer and 5 RBI in that series. He then starred in the 2024 Premier 12, going 7-for-17 with a walk, two doubles, three homers, four runs and ten RBI in five games. He hit a grand slam off Cuban ace Liván Moinelo and also took Pavel Hernández deep that game. His other long ball was off Australia's Sam Holland. He also handled 11 chances error-free. Despite South Korea not making the finals, he was among the event leaders in homers (tying Carlos Pérez for second, two behind Ryan Ward), RBI (3rd, behind Matt Shaw and Ward), total bases (tied Didi Gregorius for 9th) and slugging (2nd, .018 behind Alan Trejo). Shaw beat him out for the All-World honors at the hot corner.