Currently, Kim Do-young (21, KIA Tigers) is the best young fielder with the highest potential and shilling ability in the KBO League. There is no player in the league who is fast-footed and has good contact skills but has good slugging power.
Coach Lee Bum-ho aims for Kim Do-young, who is a clutch heater third baseman with a hot hitter family. The reason he chose Kim as the third hitter is that he proved why he is called the “second Lee Jong-beom” by boosting his batting pace over the past two weeks. He has a batting average of 0.316 with eight homers, 20 RBIs, 20 runs scored and 10 stolen bases in 24 games this season, with an OPS of 0.973.
If he adds two more homers, he will be able to easily surpass 10 to 10. SBS Sports commentator Lee Soon-cheol has already predicted that Kim Do-young will be able to have .30-30 homers and steals. He may succeed this year. He was selected as an adult national team member for the first time last year, and is highly likely to be a third baseman with built-in members of the national team.
Kim Joo-won (22, NC Dinos) is considered to have endless potential for development, although his sealing is slightly lower than that of Kim Do-young. Kim Ju-won has many similarities with Kim Do-young. He is a shortstop with excellent athletic ability. In particular, he is fast and has good long-distance shots.
Manager Kang In-kwon said, “Kim Joo-won is somewhat less capable of contacting.” He drew a picture of growing into a central infielder with long-shot power. Kim Do-young has an advantage over Kim in that he also has good contact skills. On the other hand, Kim has a higher value as a defender only at this point. This season, Kim committed only one error.
Kim recorded 30 errors last year. However, his defense has gained noticeable stability this year. On the other hand, Kim is good at third base defense, but he is not among the best in the league. As long as Park Chan-ho is present, there is also no chance to return to shortstop. However, if Kim upgrades his defense from third base in the long run, he will be able to overcome this gap.
At the end of last year, they were also included in the list of potential candidates for the future Major League of Korean baseball selected by the U.S. baseball statistics website FanGraph. They were also on the same team for the first time at last year’s Asian Professional Baseball Championship. There is a good chance that the two players will keep the left infield together at the upcoming Premier 12 championship in November.
In 24 games this season, Kim has a batting average of 0.167 with one home run, eight RBIs, 10 runs scored, and five steals, with an OPS of 0.602 with a 0.182 run-scoring percentage. At this point, the batting performance is quite different. However, Kim does not give up on switch-heater and continues to leave expectations for the future.
From the 19th to the 21st, he had a hit throughout the three consecutive games in Gwangju against KIA. On the 21st, he completed a multi-hit with a home run and a double, winning by decision to Kim Do-young, who had one hit in three times at bat. It is also fun to see how the two super prospects of the 1-year-old Tuul will grow in the future.
Kim admitted with certainty that Kim Do-young would do well. “Do-young is good. She is strong and has good contact,” Kim said. However, it seems that the two are not that close yet. Since Yoo Shin-go and Dongsung High School graduate, they have no choice but to have no contact with each other. “Now that I see her, I can even greet her,” Kim said.
BY: 스포츠토토