Before taking over as manager of the Doosan Bears, Lee Seung-yeop (46), the “home run king” of Korean baseball, remembered Japan’s 2000 slugger Mune taka Murakami (23-Yakult Swallows) and said, “I wish we could have a young slugger in Korea Lee has a special place in his heart for Noh Si-hwan (22), who was born in December 2000 and established himself as a “young big hitter” in a Hanwha Eagles uniform in the Doosan dugout in 2023In his last five games (April 4 against the KIA Tigers to April 9 against the KT Wiz), Noh has hit five home runs, giving him an advantage in the home run race On Sept. 9 against KT, he hit three home runs in a game for the first time Second-place Choi Jung (36-SSG Landers) also hit one home run, but the gap widened Through nine days, Noh had 26 home runs, five ahead of Choi with 21Noh is on track for a meaningful record He will finish the 2023 season before turning 23Only two other players in KBO history have won the home run title before the age of 23: Lee Seung-yeop, who became the youngest player ever to win the title (1997) at age 21, and KBO talent donor Jang Jong-hoon, who won the title in 1990 at age 22If Noh wins the race against Choi, he will become the third-youngest home run king in KBO history, joining Lee and Jang He would also become the second-youngest player in history to win the RBI and batting average records Noh maintained a triple-digit batting average (.307) through nine days and collected 71 RBIs He’s on pace to hit .305 with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs Jang Jong-hoon is the first player in KBO history to accomplish this feat. Jang hit .345 with 35 home runs and 114 RBIs in 1991 when he was 23 years old Lee Seung-yeop became the youngest player in history in 1997 when he hit .329 with 32 home runs and 114 RBIs at the age of 21If Noh maintains his batting average and reaches the 30-homer and 100-homer milestones, he will become the second-youngest player to do so at age 22KBSN Sports commentator Kim Tae-gyun, who Noh has expressed admiration for on numerous occasions, hit .319 with 31 home runs in 2003 at the age of 21, but failed to reach 100 with 95 RBI sIf 스포츠토토링크 Noh achieves 30 homers and 100 RBIs, he will become the second-youngest player ever to do so The variable is the Hangzhou Asian Games, which kick off on September 23. Baseball will begin on October 1Noh has been selected to represent Korea at the Asian Games The KBO will not suspend the regular season during the Asian Games. Noh will not be able to play in the KBO regular season for more than two weeks In 2023, Noh will play about 130 games instead of 144 Choi is the second player in KBO history to reach the 450-homer plateau, behind only Lee Seung-yeop (467), so he will have to close the gap before joining the Asian Games team.