"I'm about to turn 40." Kang Min-ho tries the oldest catcher's 20 home runs... 2G consecutive cannon 'Bang Bang.'

"I'm about to turn 40." Kang Min-ho tries the oldest catcher's 20 home runs... 2G consecutive cannon 'Bang Bang.'

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Still in good shape. Kang Min-ho (39) of the Samsung Lions hit home runs in two consecutive games, aiming to become the oldest catcher ever with 20 home runs.

Kang started the game against the Doosan Bears of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Sunday local time, and had two hits, one homer, one RBI and one run from three times at bat. Samsung lost to Doosan 4-8.토토사이트

Kang Min-ho, who launched a home run against SSG Landers on Saturday, garnered attention with his home run in two consecutive games. With no runners with two outs in the top of the third inning when Samsung was trailing 1-2, he targeted Choi Won-joon's fourth pitch of 140km/h fastball, and scored a 110m tying solo shot behind left field. It was his 19th season.

With this home run, Kang is one step closer to his first 20 home runs in six years since his 22 home runs in 2018. Kang, who has 338 home runs in his career, is showing his rusty skills in July, becoming the fourth player ever to hit double-digit home runs for 15 consecutive years.

Kang, who is about to turn 40, will leave a new legend if he adds more than one homerun in the remaining seven games. He is setting a new record of 20 homers as the oldest catcher in the KBO league. The oldest catchers to have more than 20 homers before Kang were Cho In-sung (28 homers) in 2010 and Yang Eui-ji (20 homers) in 2022. The two players spent the 35-year-old season at the time. This year, Kang is four years older than them.

This is a rare record in which only seven players (No. 10) can hit 20 homers in a season over 39 years old. Furthermore, Kang is the catcher who has the biggest burden on defense. He played in charge of the home turf for a whopping 796 innings this year as well.

Kang has a batting average of 0.309 (122 hits in 395 times at bat) with 19 homers and 77 RBIs in 132 games this season. He is in the midst of an impressive year, winning his first monthly MVP in July with a batting average of around .400 and 11 homers. He is also considered a likely candidate for the Golden Glove catcher for this season along with Park Dong-won of the LG Twins.

Second-ranked Samsung (75 wins, 60 losses and two draws) is set to advance to the playoffs, beating third-ranked LG (69 wins, 64 losses and two draws) by a gap of five games. Kang Min-ho, who is in his 21st year since debut, has yet to experience the Korean Series. He advanced to the postseason seven times through the Lotte Giants and Samsung Lions, but failed every time at the threshold. With the current upturn, he can play in the Korean Series for the first time in his career, raising expectations little by little.