At the 5th game of the 2025 KBO League Postseason Korean Series between the LG Twins and Hanwha Eagles held at Hanwha Life Insurance Baseball Park in Daejeon on the 31st, LG Twins won and MVP Kim Hyun-soo of LG is celebrating. Yonhap News.  Kim Hyun-soo (37, LG Twins) wrote a 'walk-on legend' but for a long time carried the label of being 'weak in big games'.

However, in the fall of 2025, Kim Hyun-soo was reborn as a 'fall warrior' by winning his first Korean Series (KS) Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

On the 31st, LG defeated the Hanwha Eagles 4-1 in the 5th game of the 2025 KBO KS against the Hanwha Eagles at Hanwha Life Insurance Baseball Park in Daejeon, securing their fourth overall championship in club history with a series record of 4 wins and 1 loss.

In the 5 KS games, Kim Hyun-soo recorded 9 hits in 17 at-bats (batting average 0.529), 1 home run, 5 walks, and 8 RBIs. He was selected as the KS MVP with 61 votes out of a total of 89 valid votes (68.5% of votes) in a media poll, ahead of Anders Thorhurst (14 votes), Park Dong-won (10 votes), Moon Bo-gyeong, and Shin Min-jae (2 votes each).

He received a Kia EV5 all-electric vehicle for his performance.

Meeting Kim Hyun-soo after the awards ceremony, he said, "I'm in my 20th year as a professional, and I never dreamed a day like this would come in the Korean Series," adding, "I'm happy to have performed well and received the MVP award."

Kim Hyun-soo, who joined the Doosan Bears as a walk-on in 2006, earned the nickname 'Hitting Machine' after finishing first in batting average (0.357) in 2008.

His career batting average in the KBO regular season is 0.312, and he also played in Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2016 and 2017.

MVP Kim Hyun-soo receiving congratulations from teammates. Yonhap News. 

However, for a time, he would bow his head in the fall, failing to live up to his reputation.

He performed extremely poorly in the 2007 and 2008 KS, and his team (Doosan) finished as runner-up for two consecutive years.

Specifically, in the 2008 KS, his batting average was a mere 0.048 (1 hit in 21 at-bats), and in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 5 with the team trailing 0-2 and the bases loaded, he grounded into a double play with a weak grounder to the pitcher. The 2008 KBO league season ended with Kim Hyun-soo's double play.

Kim Hyun-soo suffered from the wounds of that experience for a long time.

However, with KS championships in 2015 (Doosan), 2023, and now 2025 (both with LG), those wounds have completely healed.

On the day he won his first career KS MVP, Kim Hyun-soo said calmly, recalling the most painful day, "I want to tell my 2008 self, 'Yes, that's how badly you played.' I learned a lot back then. I was really young then, and good senior players comforted me a lot. Thanks to them, I was able to grow."

Kim Hyun-soo and Moon Bo-gyeong sharing joy. Yonhap News. 

Kim Hyun-soo now qualifies to be called a 'fall warrior' in terms of his records as well.

This fall, Kim Hyun-soo set several career postseason records.

He increased his career postseason hits to 105, surpassing Hong Sung-heun (101 hits) to take the top spot in this category.

His career postseason total bases became 149, tying him with Hong Sung-heun for first place.

He further extended his personal best records for RBIs (63) and walks (51), and ranks second in games played (106) and third in runs scored (47).

Kim Hyun-soo said, "When I was young, I met good senior players who created an environment where I could play, and now I play with good junior players. Thanks to 'riding the bus' well, I am high on the career postseason record rankings," attributing his success to his teammates.

However, players who have played with Kim Hyun-soo at Doosan and LG recognize him as the 'bus driver who led the team to a good place'.

Kim Hyun-soo wins Korean Series MVP. Yonhap News. 

In particular, within LG, there are evaluations that 'Kim Hyun-soo changed the team culture'.

Kim Hyun-soo laughed and said, "I'm more sentimental than I look. I grew up watching senior players bestow favors upon junior players. But I didn't change the team. Players like Oh Ji-hwan and Lim Chan-kyu, who are now veterans, made LG a strong team," praising his juniors.

Kim Hyun-soo, who has won his third championship of his career, stated, "My goal is to collect more than five championship rings."

It is not yet known whether Kim Hyun-soo will be able to add to his championship rings with LG.

He is about to become a free agent.

Kim Hyun-soo said cautiously, "I don't think this is the time for me to talk about my FA contract."

However, LG fans who visited Daejeon on the 31st chanted "Re-sign".

Yonhap News