"Resetting from the start again"… Kim Do-young leads with 40 home runs, 1 ahead of Austin and Hilliard

KIA's Kim Do-young, who was away for 2 weeks for the Asian Games, kept the lead with 40 home runs. Hilliard hit 5 during the gap to tie Austin for 2nd place, and KIA has the most remaining games with 12.

Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.

Three-line summary

KIA's Kim Do-young was away for about 2 weeks after being called up for the Asian Games, yet he kept the KBO home run lead with 40.
During his absence, Hilliard hit 5 to reach 39 and tie Austin for 2nd place, 1 behind the leader.
KIA has 12 games left, LG 11 and KT 10, so Kim Do-young has the most opportunities remaining.

1. That is the distance left between Kim Do-young (22, KIA), who was away from the league for nearly 2 weeks, and his two pursuers. In the meantime, Sam Hilliard (32, KT) slugged 5 home runs. Austin Dean (32, LG) could not add a single one. Ilgan Sports's tally shows Kim Do-young is still at the top of the standings with 40 home runs (as of 11:00 on 2026.09.28).

Kim Do-young's 40 home runs: still No. 1 despite 2 weeks away

In an interview after returning home, Kim Do-young began by talking about his physical condition. Newspim reported that on the 28th he said, "My body is in good enough shape. I'll reset from the start again and get my good hitting feel back." However, as of the time of checking (09:00 on the 29th), it had not been confirmed whether he played in the game on the 29th.

During the gap, the two pursuers had opposite results. JoongAng Ilbo reported that over this period Austin failed to add a home run, while Hilliard added 5. Subtracting 5 from his current 39 puts Hilliard at 34 just before Kim's call-up, 6 behind the leader. In 2 weeks, that gap shrank to 1.

Rank	Player	Team	Home runs	Gap to leader
1	Kim Do-young	KIA	40	-
T-2	Austin	LG	39	1
T-2	Hilliard	KT	39	1
4	Kang Baek-ho	Hanwha	33	7
5	Na Sung-bum	KIA	29	11

The top 3 are as reported at 11:00 on 2026.09.28 and were cross-checked against the official KBO table. The 4th- and 5th-place figures are from the official table viewed at 09:00 on 2026.09.29.

Remaining games: KIA 12, LG 11, KT 10 — Kim Do-young has the most chances

Now the remaining variable is the number of games. According to Ilgan Sports and the KBO daily team standings, the remaining regular-season games are KIA 12 games, LG 11 games and KT 10 games (as of 11:00 on 2026.09.28). Kim Do-young has 2 more games left than Hilliard and 1 more than Austin.

Still No. 1 after 2 weeks off, with 12 games left. On numbers alone, Kim Do-young has the advantage. However, remaining games are counted by team, so they are not a guaranteed number of appearances for the individual player. To make use of the 2 extra games he has, Kim Do-young needs to regain his hitting feel quickly.

Maeil Shinmun reported on the 24th that KIA had 11 games remaining. However, the KBO table as of the 27th and Ilgan Sports' report on the 28th both say 12 games. This article follows 12 games, which matches the latest official tally. Ilgan Sports reporter Lee Hyung-seok forecast that, because remaining games and each player's hitting trends differ, the home run title race will continue to the very end.

Kim Do-young's salary of 250 million won: the background of the 22-year-old home run leader

Kim Do-young was born on October 2, 2003, and is 22 years old as of the 29th. He joined KIA as a 2022 first-round pick, and in 2024 he won the regular-season MVP with 38 home runs and 40 stolen bases. In 2025 he played only 30 games because of a hamstring injury. This year, on September 8 against Samsung, he became the first KIA domestic hitter to hit 40 home runs in a single season. It is the 30th such feat in KBO history.

His salary this year is 250 million won. KBC Gwangju Broadcasting reported KIA's announcement (2026.01.15) that this is a 50% cut from 500 million won for the 2025 season. 500 million won was the highest salary in KBO history for a fourth-year player. His signing bonus on joining was 400 million won (with a separate first-year salary of 30 million won).

On pay alone, the two pursuers are much more expensive. According to LG's announcement, Austin's total contract for the 2026 season is $1.7 million ($300,000 signing bonus, $1.1 million salary and $300,000 in incentives). That is $400,000, or about 31%, more than the previous year's $1.3 million. According to KT's announcement, Hilliard joined on $1 million.

Player	Age	Team	2026 season amount
Kim Do-young	22	KIA	Salary of 250 million won
Austin	32	LG	Total contract of $1.7 million
Hilliard	32	KT	Total contract of $1 million

The race is not over yet. The standings and remaining games are as of the reports on the 28th, and the stats from Kim Do-young's return game have not yet been confirmed. After weathering a 2-week absence, Kim Do-young's remaining lead is exactly 1.

Frequently asked questions

Q. How old is Kim Do-young?

Kim Do-young was born on October 2, 2003, and is 22 years old as of September 29, 2026. The age of 23 given in some reports comes from a different method of calculating age.

Q. What is Kim Do-young's salary?

His salary for the 2026 season is 250 million won. According to KIA's announcement, it was cut 50% from 500 million won for the 2025 season.

Q. Who is 2nd in the KBO home run standings?

LG's Austin and KT's Hilliard are tied for 2nd with 39 home runs, 1 behind Kim Do-young's 40 (as of 11:00 on 2026.09.28).

Related official sites

KBO official home run rankings — Check the live-updating home run rankings yourself
KBO official profile and career stats for Kim Do-young — Look up his date of birth and season-by-season records
KBO daily team standings — Check each team's games played and games remaining

Representative image · Archive photo · Not an on-site photo of the current game in the article · Photo composite · Photo = Wikimedia Commons (All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA), CC BY-SA 2.0 · Photo = Wikimedia Commons (All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA), CC BY-SA 2.0