Last-minute competition for professional baseball individual awards heats up

Doosan Soo-bin Jeong (33) walked in the first at-bat in the top of the first inning against Lotte held at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 11th and then immediately stole second base. 36th stolen base of the season. The gap with LG infielder Shin Min-jae (27), who is the leader in stolen bases (37), is now one. He didn’t stop there, he hit a single with one out in the top of the fifth inning, got on base, and stole second base on the next batter’s first pitch, becoming tied for first place in stolen bases. Jeong Soo-bin, who debuted as a professional in 2009, is a veteran who won the Korean Series MVP in 2015. But he doesn’t have an individual title yet. His best performance was in 2011 when he ranked 4th in stolen bases with 31. This year, he stole bases 36 times until the 11th, surpassing the record for most in a season (32 in 2014).

Shin Min-jae is like a symbol of the ‘running baseball’ advocated by LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop, who has already confirmed direct advancement to the Korean Series by winning the regular league. He debuted in 2019 and played mainly as a pinch runner and defender for four seasons until last year. This year, he mainly played the role of a pinch runner at the beginning of the season, but was recognized for his improved batting skills (batting average of 0.277 as of the 11th) and took over as the starting second baseman. His speed is very fast and his ability to steal the opponent’s battery timing is excellent. Shin Min-jae seemed to be continuing his solo run in the stolen base category for a time, but due to muscle pain suffered in the game against KIA on the 6th, he has not been able to play in recent games. Although the injury is not serious, the club is giving him sufficient recovery time out of consideration.

It is unknown which of the two will receive the honor of ‘Great Dao’. However, Doosan has 6 games left and will play 3 more games than LG (3 games). Jeong Soo-bin is in a somewhat advantageous situation. There is a high possibility that LG will give Shin Min-jae a chance to win the stolen base title by sending him out as a substitute runner for the remaining games. Shin Min-jae is aiming to become the stolen base king for his team 13 years after Lee Dae-hyung (2007-2010), and Su-bin Jeong is 12 years after Oh Jae-won in 2011.

Unlike the pitcher category, where NC Eric Peddy secured three gold medals, the competition for the title is still fierce among batters, in addition to stolen bases. As of the 11th, the leader in batting average is Son Ah-seop (35, NC). He recorded a batting average of 0.341 with 183 hits in 537 at-bats, narrowly ahead of second place Ja-wook Koo (30, Samsung, 0.340, 152 hits in 447 at-bats). Son Ah-seop ranked first in most hits three times in 2012, 2013, and 2017, but has no connection to the batting king. Koo Ja-wook, who is loved as a Samsung franchise star, has the only individual title to be ranked first in scoring in 2021. Son Ah-seop is also chasing first place Kim Hye-seong (Kiwoom, 185) by two in the most hits category.

In the home run category, Noh Si-hwan (23, Hanwha), who won a gold medal as a representative of the Asian Games, still ranks first with 31. However, the gap with 36-year-old veteran Choi Jeong (SSG, 29) has narrowed to two. Noh Si-hwan and Choi Jeong-eun are competing for the lead in slugging percentage (total bases/at-bats). As of the 11th, Noh Si-hwan is 0.5478 and Choi Jeong-eun is 0.5477.

On the 11th, 6th place KIA continued their fall baseball dream by defeating Kiwoom 11-0 thanks to 8 scoreless innings pitched by starter Yang Hyun-jong. As 5th place Doosan lost to Lotte 3-14, the gap between the two teams was reduced to 2 games. 메이저사이트 Currently, the only teams that have confirmed their rankings are 1st place LG and 2nd place KT.