Kia Tigers' Yang Hyeon-jong wins KBO MVP
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The Kia Tigers’ Yang Hyeon-jong, right, MVP award winner of this year’s Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League, poses with the Rookie of the Year award winner Lee Jeong-hoo of the Nexen Heroes during the awarding ceremony at Intercontinental Seoul Coex, Monday. / Yonhap
Heroes’ Lee Jeong-hoo voted Rookie of the Year
By Baek Byung-yeul
The Kia Tigers’ starting pitcher Yang Hyeon-jong was voted the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League, Monday.
At the awards ceremony in Seoul, the 29-year-old southpaw, who had 20 wins and six losses with a 3.44 ERA during the regular season, earned 656 points out of a maximum 856, edging out the SK Wyverns’ third baseman Choi Jeong, who led the league in home runs with 46, by 362 points.
Yang’s teammate Hector Noesi, who also won 20 games as a starting pitcher, finished third with 208 points.
Yang has become the first KBO player to receive the MVP award for both regular season and the Korean Series. In the best-of-seven championship series, Yang won the MVP award on Oct. 30 as he helped his team claim their 11th Korean Series title. During the series against the Doosan Bears, Yang completed a shutout in Game 2 and earned a save in Game 7.
“This season has been like a dream, and I never want to wake up,” Yang said in accepting the trophy. “It’s a great honor. I am proud to be standing here representing my club.”
Yang is now the sixth MVP award winner in the Tigers’ history and this is the 14th time a pitcher won the award in the league’s 35-year history.
The Rookie of the Year award went to the Nexen Heroes’ outfielder Lee Jeong-hoo.
The 19-year-old, the son of former Tigers’ legend Lee Jong-beom, earned 503 points out of 535. During the regular season, Lee batted .324 and made 111 RBIs. The Lotte Giants’ right-hander Kim Won-jung finished second with 141 points and the KT Wiz’ infielder Jung Hyun placed third with 113 points.
Lee is the third Heroes player to win the award, following Seo Geon-chang in 2012 and Shin Jae-young in 2016.
“I’d like to thank my coaching staff for putting me in the lineup all season,” Lee said after accepting the award. “I also learned so much from my teammates. They offered me great advice all season long. I’ll try to become an even better player next year.”
The award is something his father, the 1994 regular season MVP winner, never got. The senior Lee finished second in the top rookie award voting though he recorded a batting average of .280 with 16 home runs and 73 steals.