Slugger Lee Seung-yuop hits 600th professional home run: Yonhap

[Yonhap News Photo]

Veteran slugger Lee Seung-yuop has hit his 600th professional home run.

Lee, designated hitter for the Samsung Lions in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), belted a solo shot off Lee Jae-woo of the Hanwha Eagles on Wednesday for the milestone in the bottom of the second at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

It was Lee's 441st home run in his 14th KBO season. He launched 159 home runs in eight seasons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Lee, batting fifth as the designated hitter, followed up a solo home run by Choi Hyoung-woo with a blast of his own. At a 1-1 count, Lee jumped on a 135-kph (85-mph) fastball and drove it well over the right field wall. It was measured at 115 meters (377 feet).'

Lee's home run gave the Lions a 2-0 lead. And with the score knotted at 6-6 with two outs in the bottom seventh, Lee delivered a tie-breaking double to left-center and put the home team ahead again. Lee advanced to third on an errant throw on the same play, and later came home on an infield single to make it 8-6 Lions.

The Lions added another run in the bottom seventh and went on to win 9-6. Lee finished the day 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored.

Despite spending a good chunk of his career overseas, Lee is still the KBO's all-time leader in home runs and RBIs. The 40-year-old also owns the single-season record with 56, set in 2003.

The ageless wonder has been defying odds at the plate over the past three seasons. He batted .308 with 32 home runs and 101 RBIs in 2014. He then batted a career-high .332 in 2015, while hitting 26 home runs and driving in 90 runs.

This year, Lee is batting .299 with 25 home runs and 109 RBIs in 125 games. Lee has also hit 28 doubles so far in 2016 and has hit at least 23 doubles in each of his 14 KBO seasons.'

Lee, a five-time KBO MVP, has said the 600th professional home run wouldn't mean much to him because it's a combined total from two different leagues, and that he would be more pleased with getting to No. 450 in the KBO.

Lee has hit the majority of his milestone home runs at home in Daegu. He became the youngest KBO player to reach 100, 200 and 300 home runs in Daegu. It was also here that Lee launched his 56th home run of the 2003 season to set a new record.

(Yonhap)

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com

Slugger Lee Seung-yuop hits 600th professional home run: Yonhap

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