NC Dinos' Na Sung-bum tops All-Star vote
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Na Sung-bum of the NC Dinos, right, walks to first base after being hit by a pitch in the fourth during his team’s game against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, June 30. Na was chosen as the top vote-getter for this year’s KBO All-Star Game, which will take place at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on July 16. / Yonhap
By Baek Byung-yeul
The NC Dinos’ outfielder Na Sung-bum has topped the All-Star vote with 61.89 points, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Monday.
The slugging outfielder received 236 votes from his fellow players while Hanwha Eagles outfielder Lee Yong-kyu received 140 votes. As for the online votes from baseball fans, Na who has the leagues’ fifth highest on-base plus slugging rating (OPS) with 1.017 received 1,019,654 online votes following Lee, who earned 1,027,328 votes.
The KBO All-Star Game, which will be played at the Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on July 16, will be between players from the Dream All-Star team (players from the Doosan Bears, the Samsung Lions, the SK Wyverns, the Lotte Giants and the KT Wiz) and the Nanum All-Star team (the NC Dinos, the Nexen Heroes, the Hanwha Eagles, the Kia Tigers and the LG Twins).
The 12-man roster for the Dream and Nanum teams were chosen after weighing the votes at 70 percent from online votes and 30 percent from players' votes and the totals were converted into points.
On the Dream All-Star roster, Dustin Nippert of the Bears topped the ballots receiving 983,815 from fans and 186 votes from players. The American currently leads the league in wins with 11.
The Lions slugger Lee Seung-yuop, who earned 46.31 points, will play his 10th All-Star Game as a designated hitter while the Eagles catcher Cho In-sung failed to make his 10th All-Star appearance.
The KBO will announce its full 24-man roster on Wednesday after adding 12 players to each team recommended by the managers of the Dream and the Nanum teams.
Toothless Lions to take collapsing Eagles this weekend
Although the KBO League games are likely to be cancelled in the upcoming weekdays due to heavy monsoon rains, the Lions and the Eagles, the league’s 9th and 10th place teams, are scheduled to clash this weekend.
The Lions, who won the league for five consecutive seasons from 2011 to 2015, have had a tough season this year, taking the most losses (31 wins and 44 losses) in the 10-team league.
As the Daegu-based Lions are now just a game ahead of the Eagles, who stay at the bottom with 28 wins, two draws and 43 losses, their match would be a watershed moment for both before the All-Star break.
The two teams played nine games this season and the Eagles recorded six wins while taking three losses.
The third-place Nexen Heroes (42 wins, one draw and 34 losses), who had five consecutive wins, will have a three-game series with the first-place Doosan Bears (52 wins, one draw and 22 losses) from Tuesday and another series with the second-place NC Dinos (42 wins, two draws and 25 losses) on the weekend.
The fourth-place SK Wyverns (40 wins and 37 losses), who had eight wins in the past 10 games, will face the Eagles and the eighth-place KT Wiz (30 wins, two draws and 41 losses) at home.