If Kim Ha-seong of the San Diego Padres adds three home runs, he will become the first Asian player to achieve 20 home runs and 30 stolen bases in a season. There are 36 stolen bases and 40 is on the way.
However, Ha-seong Kim missed three consecutive games due to abdominal pain whose cause is not clearly known. San Diego coach Bob Melvin said of Kim Ha-seong’s condition ahead of the game against the Colorado Rockies on the 20th (Korean time), “It has improved a lot compared to yesterday. I think he will be able to play tomorrow.”
San Diego has 10 games left in the regular season. If Ha-seong Kim returns on the 21st, the last day of the three-game home game against Colorado, he will end the 2023 season with three home games against the St. Louis Cardinals and six away games against the San Francisco Giants and Colorado. San Diego beat Colorado 2-0 on this day for its sixth straight win, but the chances of advancing to the postseason are slim.
For Ha-seong Kim to add 3 home runs, he needs to hit one in every 3 games, but since he hit 17 in 143 games this year, that is, one in 8.4 games, it should be considered difficult in terms of probability.
However, a player who can achieve twice the record that Ha-seong Kim is aiming for is approaching the end of the season. Atlanta Braves Ronald Acuña Jr. is on the verge of becoming the first player in Major League history to hit 40 home runs and 60 stolen bases.
Acuña hit his 38th and 39th home runs of the season in the game against the Philadelphia Phillies held at Truist Park on this day, leaving only one home run left in the long-awaited 40-60 score. One stolen base was also added to bring the total to 67, with 3 remaining in 70 stolen bases.
He hit the 30-home run mark for the season in the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the 1st, becoming the first player in major league history to hit 30 home runs and 60 stolen bases (62 stolen bases at the time). 40 home runs and 60 stolen bases are now within reach, and even 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases are within reach.
According to AP, starting pitcher Spencer Strider appeared before the game wearing a T-shirt with the numbers 30-60 written on it. “I think I’ll have to throw this shirt away soon,” he said. In other words, when you reach 40-60 or 40-70, you need to design a new T-shirt and wear it.
This day was the day the club handed out Acuña’s bobbleheads to spectators. He performed a home run show in front of the fans who came to cheer him on.
In his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning, Acuña caught Philadelphia left-handed starting pitcher Christopher Sanchez’s first pitch sinker at 93 mph and fired a solo shot that went well over the left field fence. He went out as the leadoff hitter in the 6th inning with a 7-3 lead and drew a solo arch in the middle of the month. He hit an 87 mph outside slider from opponent right-hander Yuni Marte on the third pitch and connected it with an arch that went over the center fence.
Acuña collapsed at the threshold of 40-40 with 41 home runs and 37 stolen bases in 2019, but missed the milestone by missing five games due to an injury at the end of the season. After suffering a wrist injury in 2020 and a knee injury in 2021, he was unable to play full-time until 2022. He said ahead of this season, “It is important to maintain my health until the end of the season.”
Acuña, who had 3 hits in 5 at-bats, 2 RBIs, 3 runs, and 1 stolen base, had a batting average of 0.338 (205 hits in 606 at-bats), 39 home runs, 100 RBI, 138 runs, 67 stolen bases, an on-base percentage of 0.418, a slugging percentage of 0.596, and an OPS of 1.014. In both leagues combined, he ranks first in hits, runs, stolen bases, and on-base percentage. The prevailing view is that he is ahead of the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts (0.311, 39 home runs, 103 RBI, 123 points, OPS 1.006) in the National League MVP race.