KBO's new strikeout king proves nice guys can finish first

Kia Tigers left-hander Yang Hyeon-jong was crowned the new career strikeout king in South Korean baseball Wednesday, proving that nice guys can finish first in sports.

Yang struck out Yoon Dong-hee of the Lotte Giants in the top of the third inning of the teams' Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) regular-season game at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, some 270 kilometers south of Seoul. It was Yang's 2,049th career strikeout, moving him past former Hanwha Eagles pitcher Song Jin-woo.

The irony is striking: Yang, widely regarded as one of the nicest men in the KBO, has now embarrassed more batters than any pitcher in league history by making them take walks of shame back to the dugout.

On the surface, Yang seems to have had a charmed career. He was the first overall choice in the 2006 draft for his hometown club and has never played for any other team in the KBO. He has won two championship rings with the Tigers, while winning both the regular season and Korean Series MVP awards in 2017.

Along the way, however, Yang has had to silence detractors who were busy pointing out what he wasn't and things he couldn't do, while ignoring what he was and things he could do.

What Yang has been is this: one of the KBO's most durable, reliable and consistent pitchers, someone who can be counted on to eat up innings, strike out a bunch of batters and give his team a chance to win games.

Yang split the early years of his career between the rotation and the bullpen. After missing some time with injury in 2013, Yang was back being a full-time starter in 2014 and won 16 games to match his career high.

He ranked second in the league in wins but also had a 4.25 ERA, a mediocre number even in a hitter-friendly environment where 36 players batted over .300 and 14 players had at least 20 home runs.

Amid whispers that his ERA was too high for him to be called a true ace, Yang won his first ERA title in 2015 with a 2.44 mark, a remarkable number considering that the league average was 4.02 and no other pitcher came in below 3.00. A whopping 24 players hit 20 or more homers that season.

Yang ranked eighth in innings pitched that year with 184 1/3. Naysayers pointed to that number and said he needed to go deeper into games.

Yang did exactly that the following year, tying for second with 200 1/3 innings. But then he only won 10 games, giving more fodder to his critics.

The left-hander came out with a vengeance and put together his best season in 2017. He tied for the league lead with a career-best 20 wins, finished second with 193 1/3 innings and third with 158 strikeouts. With his all-around excellence leaving few nits to be picked, Yang was voted the regular season MVP.

Yang also earned the Korean Series MVP honor that year, becoming the first player to win both MVP awards in the same season. He pitched a complete game shutout in Game 2 of that series against the Doosan Bears, holding them to four hits and striking out 11. Yang then recorded his first career save -- regular season and postseason combined -- in clinching Game 5 by preserving a 7-6 lead with a scoreless ninth inning. Yang escaped a one-out, bases-loaded jam to give the Tigers their 11th Korean Series title.

That was a career-defining season for Yang. He has yet to match the level of success from 2017, and perhaps he never will now that he's closer to 40 than 30. But his legacy in the KBO is already secure.

After the 2020 season, Yang signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers. He started the 2021 campaign in Triple-A before getting his first callup in April.

He was yo-yoed between the majors and the minors all year, spending just enough time with the big league club to tell people he once pitched in the majors and to know he didn't belong. He had an identical 0-3 record with a 5.60 ERA in the majors and Triple-A.

Yang rejoined the Tigers in 2022 and has been his typical self, ranking among the league leaders in innings pitched, ERA and strikeouts over the past three seasons.

Through his ups and downs, Yang has been considered one of the true gentlemen of the league.

When he is not the steely-eyed competitor on the mound every five or so days, Yang likes to have fun with his teammates in the dugout. He has taken many of his younger teammates, pitchers and position players, under his wings. In 2020, then Tigers manager Matt Williams named Yang the team's captain, a rarity for a starting pitcher who only plays once or twice a week. Williams later said he was particularly impressed with Yang's leadership and commitment to his teammates.

The list of charitable donations Yang has made is as long as that of all the batters he has struck out. Among Tigers fans, Yang is also known as a generous autograph signer. They believe there isn't a true Tigers fan that doesn't already have an autograph from Yang.

And Wednesday evening in his hometown of Gwangju, Yang was celebrated as the KBO's new strikeout leader. Fans of the Tigers and the rest of the league would say it couldn't have happened to a better guy.