Lotte Reyes, 187 hits for most hits leading 2nd place by 7...challenging 3-year consecutive 1st place
Reyes recorded 187 hits with 4 hits against Hanwha on September 23. He is 7 hits ahead of 2nd place Choi Won-jun, approaching the second-ever 3-year consecutive most hits 1st place.
Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.
Three-line summary
- Reyes is in 1st place for most hits with 187 hits in the season, going 4-for-5 against Hanwha on September 23 (as of September 24, 2026, 12 p.m. KST).
- 2nd place KT's Choi Won-jun has 180 hits, trailing by 7, and 3rd place LG's Austin is 18 hits behind the leader.
- If he maintains 1st place, he will be the second-ever after Lee Byung-kyu (1999~2001) and the first foreign player to achieve 3-year consecutive most hits 1st place.
On September 23 against Hanwha, 31-year-old Reyes came to bat five times and recorded four hits. He also added 1 home run and 4 RBIs. According to KBO official records, his season total from this game is 187 hits, 16 home runs, and 100 RBIs (as of September 24, 2026, 12 p.m. KST). 187 is the same number as the total hits he recorded in the entire season when he took 1st place for most hits last year.
Reyes' 187 most hits, 7-hit gap with Choi Won-jun
On the same day, KT's 29-year-old Choi Won-jun went 1-for-5 against NC. As Reyes added 4 hits and Choi Won-jun added 1, the gap that was 4 hits the previous day 7 hitswidened to. KBO official batting recordsand StaTTiZ ranking table show that 3rd place LG's Austin is 18 hits behind the leader. The title competition has narrowed down to essentially two people.
2026 KBO Top 5 Most Hits (as of September 24, 2026, 12 p.m. KST)
| Rank | Player | Team | Hits | Gap with Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reyes | Lotte | 187 | - |
| 2 | Choi Won-jun | KT | 180 | 7 |
| 3 | Austin | LG | 169 | 18 |
| 4 | Park Sung-han | SSG | 161 | 26 |
| 5 | Hilliard | KT | 155 | 32 |
The 1st place most hits title and batting champion are easy to confuse, but they are different titles. The batting champion goes to the player with the highest batting average. Choi Won-jun is 2nd in hits, but as of September 24 he stands 3rd with a .344 batting average. He is chasing Reyes in hit count while competing separately in batting average.
3-Year Consecutive Most Hits 1st Place, 'KBO First' is Incorrect
The issue is whether this can be called 'KBO first' if Reyes achieves it. Yonhapnewsreported on August 15 that there had been no 3-year consecutive hits leader in KBO history. The counterargument is based on KBO official records. Lee Byung-kyu (51) is recorded 1st in hits for all three seasons with 192 hits in 1999, 170 hits in 2000, and 167 hits in 2001.
Daily Sportsalso pointed out this precedent in a January report. Based on official records, the accurate expression is 'second-ever, first foreign player.' His 202 hits in 2024 were a single-season record surpassing Seo Geon-chang's 201 hits in 2014. Adding up to three years including this year in progress, Reyes already has 576 hits, 47 more than Lee Byung-kyu's 529 hits.
3-Year Consecutive Most Hits 1st Place Comparison
| Category | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee Byung-kyu | 1999: 192 hits | 2000: 170 hits | 2001: 167 hits | 529 hits |
| Reyes | 2024: 202 hits | 2025: 187 hits | 2026: 187 hits (in progress) | 576 hits |
Reyes' Contract Renewal 1.4 Million Dollars, Performance Compared to Market Value
Reyes was born on October 5, 1994, and is a switch-hitting outfielder from Venezuela. At 196cm and 87kg, he signed with Atlanta in 2011 and went to Detroit as the 1st overall pick in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft. His MLB record over 5 seasons is a .264 batting average and 16 home runs. After joining Lotte in 2024, he batted .339 over two seasons with 389 hits and won the Gold Glove for two consecutive years.
NewsisAccording to Newsis, Lotte announced on December 11, 2025 that it re-signed Reyes for the 2026 season for a total of 1.4 million dollars. It has not been confirmed how the guaranteed amount and options are divided. At the time of re-signing, Reyes said, "I want to give the fans not only personal performance but also a gift of team performance." Choi Won-jun signed a free agency contract with KT for up to 4.8 billion won over 4 years in November 2025.
Nothing is confirmed yet. Yonhapnews's August assessment that 'he is favored if he avoids injury' was a projection at that time. The final ranking depends on how many hits the two players will accumulate in the remaining games.
Related Official Sites
- KBO Official Batting Records — Check most hits and batting average rankings in real-time
- KBO Reyes Official Player Record — Detailed performance by game and year
- Lotte Giants Official Homepage — Team schedule and official news
- MLB Victor Reyes Official Profile — Major League record during Detroit era
Featured image · archival photo · not a photo from the current game in the article · photo composite · photo=Wikimedia Commons(Cheolstar), CC BY-SA 3.0 · photo=Wikimedia Commons(Cake6 (talk)), CC BY-SA 3.0
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