Beyond Lee Seung-yup and Yang Jun-hyuk, Choi Jung on the ‘path to legend’: “My only goal is 10 home runs by my retirement season”
SSG Landers’ Choi “Fixer” Jung (36) is on his way to legendary status with a record-breaking game.
SSG defeated the Samsung Lions of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League 14-2 in the sixth game of the season at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Monday. Choi, who started at third base and batted third, hit his ninth and 10th home runs of the season in consecutive at-bats.
Choi singled to center field in the first inning and then led off the second inning with a solo home run over the center field fence. After a seven-game hiatus since his last at-bat against Lotte on Sept. 21, Choi again led off the fourth inning with a solo shot to left field that gave his team a 10-0 lead.
The home run was his fifth of the season, 1151st of his career, and 24th of his personal record. Most notably, it was his 18th consecutive 10-homer season. This is the first such streak in KBO history.
The previous two players with 15 consecutive seasons are Jang Jong-hoon (1988-2002) and Yang Jun-hyuk (1993-2007). Kia’s Choi Hyung-woo set the record from 2008 to last year, and this year he is attempting to reach double-digit home runs for the 16th consecutive season. 메이저사이트
“Double-digit home runs was the only record I was aiming for, so it feels great to achieve it today,” Choi said. “Eredia and Choi Ji-hoon hit home runs in front of me, so I felt comfortable swinging. My goal is to hit double-digit home runs every year until I retire.”
“You want to hit them every chance you get, and if it doesn’t work out, you get stressed. If you get greedy, it’s even worse. If I have a goal, I can only look at it and it doesn’t work, so I try to make it flow.”
On the same day, Choi also set a new KBO record with 1,400 career hits. He is the fourth player in history and the youngest (36 years, 3 months, 4 days). The previous records were held by Lee Seung-yeop (September 13, 2016, 40 years, 26 days), Choi Hyung-woo (May 7, 2022, 38 years, 4 months, 21 days), and Lee Dae-ho (August 31, 2022, 40 years, 2 months, 10 days).