He only followed the milestone of senior Choo Shin-soo (41, SSG Landers), but he became the main character of the longest Major League (ML) record. This is the story of Kim Ha-sung (28, San Diego Padres).
Major League Baseball’s official website 메이저놀이터 noted on the 12th (Korea Standard Time) that “Kim Ha-sung tied the longest consecutive hit record of a Major League player born in Korea achieved by Choo Shin-soo.”
Earlier, Kim Ha-sung started as the first batter and second baseman in the 2023 Major League Baseball away game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Chase Field, Arizona, and scored two hits and one RBI in five at-bats. Kim Ha-sung’s season batting average rose from 0.288 to 0.290 and his OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) rose from 0.835 to 0.837 after leading San Diego to a 10-5 victory and a four-game losing streak.
Kim Ha-sung struggled with a catcher pop flyout and a grounder in his first two at-bats. However, in his third at-bat, he gradually boosted his batting sense by hitting a line drive to right field with a batting speed of 99 miles per hour (about 159.3 kilometers). The last two at-bats revealed Kim Ha-sung’s strengths. In the top of the sixth inning, pitcher Luis Prias, who changed at second base with two outs, hit a four-seam fastball of 94.9 miles per hour (about 152.7 kilometers) to record a timely RBI to the left. This year, Kim Ha-sung has not missed a fastball of 95 miles per hour (about 152.9 kilometers) if it is a mistake.
San Diego came out as the leadoff hitter in the top of the ninth inning with a 7-5 lead and sprinted to second base even though the helmet was taken off as he produced a ball that cut through the left-center. In the end, Fernando Tatis Jr.’s one-run timely double changed the tense atmosphere of the game.
Kim Ha-sung tied the record of hits in consecutive major leaguers with multiple hits in this game. The previous record was that Choo Shin-soo recorded 16 consecutive hits from the San Francisco Giants on July 3, 2013 to the San Francisco Giants on July 23, 2013, when he was in Cincinnati, and Kang Jung-ho and Choi Ji-man failed.
Also on MLB.com Kim Ha-sung became the first player to hit 20 long balls and steal 20 bases in a season since Tatis Jr. in 2021 with a double in the ninth inning. He then said, “He is the most reliable player in San Diego,” adding, “As of now, he is continuing his longest consecutive hit record this season.”
The longest consecutive hit record this season is 25 games that Marcus Simian (Texas Rangers) succeeded from May 11 to June 7. Since then, many batters have challenged, but most of them have been cut off in around 20 games. Kim Ha-sung, who is currently hitting the longest consecutive hits, is the player with 16 games.
Attention is also being paid to whether Kim Ha-sung will be able to soothe his disappointment of achieving a multi-base record in consecutive Asian major leaguers by breaking the hit record in consecutive games. In the Seattle Mariners away game on the 9th, he had to settle for a tie with Ichiro Suzuki in 2007 after finishing 16 consecutive games with one hit and three strikeouts in four at-bats.
Ichiro holds hits in consecutive Asian major leaguers in 2009. Ichiro recorded 27 consecutive games from may 7, 2009 against the Kansas City Royals to June 4, 2009 against the Baltimore Orioles.