NC Dinos’ Son Ah-seop breaks KBO record with 2,505 career hits

Son Ah-seop of the NC Dinos is making his 2,505 career hit in the top of the sixth inning against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on June 20. Yonhap News

It took 6,284 days since his first hit on April 7, 2007. He played 2,044 games and never stopped hitting. In addition to natural talent, constant effort and thorough physical care have been added. Son Ah-seop of the NC Dinos (36) has finally reached the top of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO)’s all-time hits list.

Son engraved his name as the new star of the KBO's most hits record with his 2,505th career hit against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on June 20. With 2.504 career hits, he surpassed former LG Twins star Park Yong-taik who retired in the 2020 season. Son, who made his debut at the Lotte Giants in 2007 and is in his third season at the NC Dinos after signing as a free agent, reached the milestone in his 18th professional season. Son, who had tied Park with two hits the day before, hit the sixth pitch of Doosan starter Raul Alcantara in the top of the sixth inning of the game to break through between shortstop and third baseman. After taking first base, Son took off his helmet and greeted his fans. Former record holder Park, a KBSN Sports commentator who traveled to Jamsil Baseball Stadium to present Son with a bouquet of congratulatory flowers, applauded.

Former LG Twins star and baseball commentator Park Yong-taik congratulates Son Ah-seop of the NC Dinos who broke his record of the most hits in KBO history. Yonhap News

Known as a “genius hitter” since his high school days at Busan High School, he was drafted with the 29th pick in the fourth round of the second rookie draft in 2007. A high school graduate rookie fielder was named on the opening roster in 2007 and recorded a hit in his first professional game as a pinch runner against the Hyundai Unicorns on April 7 of that year. His first hit came against Jung Min-tae, who was playing a remarkable part in the bullpen at the time.

Despite the first hit in his debut game, his first year as a professional baseball player was not a smooth one. He recorded only one hit due to a wrist injury and took a full year off. The following year, The following year, he played a full season with a batting average of .300, but fell into an extreme slump in the 2009 season, which was his third year as a professional player. The so-called “second-year jinx” came a year later.

However, since the 2010 season, Son has firmly established himself as one of Korea’s best hitters. Starting with 129 hits that year, he had three-digit hits all the time until last season. Son recorded 100 hits for 14 consecutive seasons. By the end of this season, it seems certain that Son will have 100 hits for 15 consecutive seasons, following former star baseballers Yang Joon-hyuk, Park Han-yi, and Lee Seung-yeop. If he has 150 hits this season, he will extend his record of 150 hits for eight consecutive years, which was the first in KBO history, to nine.

He has practiced his swing hundreds of times a day since he was a high school student and was so competitive that as a rookie, he made an online photo album in which he categorized the star batters, such as Ichiro Suzuki, Lee Seung-yeop, Kim Hyun-soo, and Jang Sung-ho as “rivals.” His strict self-management and constant improvement eventually resulted in 2,505 hits.

Son surpassed the 100-hit mark in his professional career on April 14, 2010, and his rate of hit production has accelerated over the seasons. On October 2, 2015, he became the 75th player in KBO history to record 1,000 hits, and on July 11, 2018, he became the 32nd player to record 1,500 hits. On August 14, 2021, he became the 13th player to record 2,000 hits, along with the record of “youngest player ever“ and “shortest number of games ever.” As the number of hits increased, the number of former batters who stood alongside Son decreased. On June 15, he reached the 2,500-hit plateau in the game against the Samsung Lions, which was the record achieved only by Park Yong-taik, and added five more hits in five days to set a new historic record.

However, he also had some difficulties. In 2022, his first year in the NC Dinos, he struggled mightily, with a batting average of just .277, which was his worst season since the 2010 season with a batting average of .300. The drop felt even worse because his worst season before that was 2019 with a batting average .295, and he was consistent enough to hit triple digits in all of his other seasons. Concerns have been raised that he may have entered an "aging curve" as he is approaching mid-30s. But Son has put those concerns to rest with his performance. He bounced back last season with a batting average of .339. He even earned the title of a “batting champion” for the first time since he became a professional player, which came weirdly late considering his outstanding performance.

Son’s next goal is 3,000 hits. Until last season, he had an average of around 170 hits per season in the past five years. If he maintains his skills and performance, he is expected to make it by around the 2027 season when he will be 39 years old. To achieve that goal, he will have to avoid serious injuries and pay more attention to his health and body care, which is only going to get harder as he gets older. It is not an easy task, but many believe that Son, who has been doing well, will be able to achieve it.

3,000 hits is a milestone that guarantees a player to be listed in the Hall of Fame in the U.S. In its 150-year history, only 33 players have achieved it.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.