"Three pitchers" Peddy v "Two hits" Noh Si-hwan, the best star in the 2023 KBO?
The 2023 KBO Awards will be held at 2 p.m. on the 27th at the Grand Ballroom of the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul. At the awards ceremony, the MVP and rookie of the year who performed the best in the 2023 KBO regular season will be announced. The winners of the MVP and Rookie of the Year awards are determined according to the results of voting conducted after the end of the regular season for journalists from media outlets belonging to the Korea Baseball Reporters Association and reporters in charge of media in each region.
The biggest concern is the result of the MVP, the best award. Among the top players in individual categories and players selected by the Korea Baseball Press Association, 16 were selected as MVP candidates, and the most prominent names among them were Eric Pedi and Noh Si-hwan.
Pedi's 2023 season has been brilliant in and of itself. Pedi, who played in a total of 30 games, recorded 20 wins, 6 losses, and 2.00 ERA. He won multiple wins, average earned runs, and strikeouts (209) to achieve the pitcher's triple crown. The Triple Crown in the pitching category is a milestone of only four players, including Haetae Sun Dong-yeol (1986, 1989-1991), Hanwha Ryu Hyun-jin (2006) and KIA Yoon Seok-min (2011).
It has been 37 years since Sun Dong-yeol in 1986 that he has achieved 20 wins and 200 strikeouts in a season, and is the first foreign pitcher in KBO history. In other words, he stood shoulder to shoulder with great pitchers who shone in Korean professional baseball, including Jang Myung-bu, Choi Dong-won, Kim Si-jin, and Sun Dong-yeol. It is also more interesting to see how many votes he would have received than whether he won the award or not due to his overwhelming performance.
If Pedi wins MVP, he will be the eighth foreign player to ever win. Tyrone Woods (then OB Bears) was named the first foreign MVP in 1998, followed by Daniel Rios (Doosan) in 2007, Eric Thames (NC) in 2015, Dustin Nippert (Doosan) in 2016, Josh Lindblom (Doosan) in 2019, Mel Rojas Jr. (KT) in 2020, and Ariel Miranda (Doosan) in 2021. NC will produce the MVP for the first time in eight years since Thames in 2015.
Pedi, who returned to the U.S. after the playoff, entered the country on the 26th to attend the award ceremony. Until now, foreign players have returned to their home country immediately after the season, and the award ceremony was considered a practice for proxy awards. It is unusual to visit Korea again to attend the award ceremony like Pedi. This means that he is confident of winning the MVP award.
Hanwha's "young big shot" Noh Si-hwan made a splash this season by winning the home run king (31) and the RBI king (101). If it was like another season, it is a report card that deserves the MVP. However, the possibility of winning is expected to be relatively low because Pedi's overwhelming performance is so overwhelming.
Some predict that Noh Si-hwan, a native Korean slugger who was born in a long time, could compete with Pedi for an unexpectedly fierce MVP title. Baseball fans and experts believe that it will be difficult for Fedi to win unanimous votes, at least thanks to his prominent competitor, Roh Si-hwan. Park Chul-soon (OB) is the only unanimous winner in the KBO MVP vote in 1982, the first year of professional baseball. Last year, Lee Jung-hoo sought the second unanimous MVP in 40 years, but failed to achieve his will with three breakaway votes.
The rookie award is in a two-way race. Hanwha Eagles' "fire bowler" Moon Dong-joo (20) and KIA Tigers' next-generation left-hander ace Yoon Young-chul (19) are the leading candidates.
Moon Dong-ju, who made his professional debut last year but maintained his rookie status this year due to a lack of pitching innings, played a total of 23 games and was responsible for 118 ⅔s, posting an 8-8 record with a 3.72 ERA. Although he did not fill the regular innings (144 innings), he consistently took charge of the starting rotation, ranking second in the most wins and second in the most innings in the team.
If Moon Dong-ju receives the Rookie of the Year award, Hanwha's team will produce the Rookie of the Year award winner for the first time in 17 years since Ryu Hyun-jin in 2006. Hanwha (including Binggrae) has only won the Rookie of the Year award three times, from Junghoon Lee in 1987 to Kim Tae-kyun in 2001, and Ryu Hyun-jin.
Yoon Young-chul is as good as Moon Dong-ju. This season, he pitched 122 ⅔s and went 8-7 with a 4.04 ERA in 25 games. Yoon Young-chul also failed to fill the regular innings, but tied for third in the most wins and third in the most innings in the team.
KIA produced the Rookie of the Year award in 2021. At that time, Lee Eui-ri received the Rookie of the Year award from KIA (including Haitai) for the first time in 36 years since Lee Soon-cheol in 1985. If Yoon Young-chul wins the Rookie of the Year award, he will be the third main character in the club's history. 토토사이트
Moon Dong-joo, who showed an advantage in average earned runs, is slightly ahead in objective performance. Moon Dong-joo's on-base percentage (1.31) and hit percentage (.249) per inning are also better than Yoon Young-chul (1.40, .263). However, Moon Dong-ju is a used rookie who debuted last year, and Yoon Young-chul is a pure rookie who debuted this year.