Will there be a first-ever three-time monthly MVP winner? Will it be the first award for a 39-year-old veteran catcher? Attention is focused on the July monthly MVP awarded by the KBO.
Looking at the monthly performance for July, KIA’s Kim Do-young played in 22 games and recorded a batting average of .470 (33 hits in 81 at-bats), 7 home runs, 21 RBIs, 25 runs, 6 stolen bases, slugging percentage of .815, and OPS of 1.288. He is tied for 2nd in home runs, tied for 2nd in RBIs, 2nd in hits, and 4th in batting average.
Samsung’s Kang Min-ho played in 20 games and recorded a batting average of .480 (31 hits in 76 at-bats), 11 home runs, 26 RBIs, slugging percentage of .868, and OPS of 1.312. He is 1st in home runs, 1st in RBIs, 1st in slugging percentage, 1st in OPS, and 3rd in batting average.
The monthly batting average is 1st in Hanwha Ahn Chi-hong (batting average .437). The hits are 1st in Lotte Reyes (34 hits, batting average .450).
On the pitching side, NC Hart was outstanding with 3 wins, 0 losses, 0.55 ERA, and 39 strikeouts in 5 games (33 innings). He is 1st in ERA and 1st in strikeouts. The most wins was Doosan Kwak Bin (4 wins, 1 loss, 3.49 ERA, 25 strikeouts). KT closing pitcher Kim Young-hyun was 1st in saves with 2 wins, 8 saves, and 0 ERA in 11 games.
The performances of Kim Do-young, Kang Min-ho, and Hart stand out. Hart is a foreign player, so he is at a disadvantage in terms of public opinion.
The KBO selects the MVP by combining the votes of the press corps and the fans.
Kim Do-young, who is about to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases, has already won the monthly MVP twice. He was the MVP for March and April and the MVP for June.
Kim Do-young set the record of ‘10 home runs and 10 stolen bases per month’ for the first time in KBO history in March and April. In addition, he won the monthly MVP with a batting average of .338 (44 hits in 130 at-bats), 10 home runs, 26 RBIs, 29 runs, 8 walks, 27 strikeouts, and 14 stolen bases in 31 games, with an on-base percentage of .380, a slugging percentage of .638, and an OPS of 1.018.
Kim Do-young was also the MVP for June. 파워볼실시간 Kim Do-young played in 24 games in June, recording a batting average of .352 (9th), 32 hits (tied for 9th), 8 home runs (2nd), and 27 runs (1st). He also ranked high in all batting indicators, including a slugging percentage of .681 (3rd), an on-base percentage of .468 (4th), and an OPS of 1.149 (2nd).
In particular, he achieved ’20 home runs and 20 stolen bases’ in the first game of the Gwangju Hanwha doubleheader on June 23. It was the 5th record to achieve ’20 home runs and 20 stolen bases’ in the first half of the season.
Following Lee Jung-hoo, who won the monthly MVP twice in June and September 2022, Kim Do-young won the monthly MVP twice in the same year. If Kim Do-young wins the July MVP as well, he will become the first player to win the award three times in the same year.
Kang Min-ho swung his bats hard even at the age of 39.
While playing a difficult position as a catcher, he endured the heat and ranked first in major offensive performances such as home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage, and OPS. He led the Samsung batting lineup when key hitters such as Park Byung-ho and Koo Ja-wook were out due to injuries. In terms of performance alone, Kang Min-ho is superior. Kang Min-ho has never won the monthly MVP award. This time, he showed his best performance and has a chance to win.
Fan sentiment can be a major variable. In the June MVP vote, Kim Do-young received only 6 votes (20.7%) out of 30 votes from the press corps, while Kiwoom’s Kim Hye-sung received 13 votes. However, in the fan vote, Kim Do-young received overwhelming support with 245,598 votes (48.4%) out of 507,615 votes. Kim Hye-sung came in second place with 47,854 fan votes (9.4%).
In the All-Star fan vote, Samsung took first place in five positions for the Dream All-Star. KIA took first place in ten positions for the Sharing All-Star. In terms of fan sentiment, KIA fans seem to have more firepower.