The Rookie of the Year race in 2023

The Rookie of the Year race in 2023 is hot, with nine noteworthy rookies in the second half

Ahead of the start of the second half of the 21st, KBO said, "New faces appear in the KBO League every season. Fans become more enthusiastic when new young players play. In particular, young players are outstanding this season, and there are several players who can compete for the KBO Rookie of the Year award. Looking back on the performance of the players who just started playing in the first half and predicting how the upcoming Rookie of the Year race will unfold will be one of the factors to enjoy the KBO League in the second half, he said.

Park Myung-geun (LG) has established himself as a must-win group for the LG bullpen since his first year in the team. Park Myung-geun, who finished the first half with four wins, five holds and five saves and a 3.25 ERA, played an active role regardless of whether he won or finished. In particular, in the match against Changwon NC on June 22, he was put in the 10th inning of extra time and blocked three innings without losing a point, helping LG come from behind to win. While existing bullpen pitchers were alternately away due to injuries and other reasons, Park Myung-geun defended the bullpen and helped LG finish the first half with a sole lead.

Yoon Young-chul (KIA), who was considered a complete left-hander even before joining the team, is also showing good performance. Yoon Young-chul, who has been drawing attention for his stable game management since high school, is also showing his strengths on the KBO league stage. First-year pitchers are often shaken, but Yoon Young-chul had only two games in which he allowed more than five runs out of 13 starts, and he quickly returned to his pace without any slump lasting several games. Yoon Young-chul, who pitched as a bullpen for the first time since his debut in the Gwangju Samsung game on July 12, finished the first half with a better-than-expected performance with 5 wins, 4 losses, and a 4.08 ERA in 14 games.

Choi Ji-min (KIA), a second-year left-hander, has emerged as the core of the KIA bullpen. KIA Choi Ji-min returned as a 'left-handed fireballer'. Last season, the first year of his debut, he recorded a 13.50 ERA in six innings, showing that he has not been completed yet. However, he changed his mind this season and finished the first half with a 1.70 ERA in 42⅓ innings. From the match against Lotte on April 20 to the match against LG on May 27, he played 17 games and 20⅓ innings without losing a point for more than a month.

In Hanwha, Moon Dong-joo and Moon Hyun-bin are playing an active role. Hanwha Moon Dong-joo, who raised fans' expectations by spraying light-speed pitches early in the season, had an impressive first half with 6 wins, 6 losses, a 3.47 ERA and an average of more than 5 innings in 16 games. In particular, in the match against Jamsil LG on July 12, the last appearance in the first half, he won the game by allowing only five hits and one run in 7⅓ innings against Kangta-sun. Moon Dong-joo, who is in his second year as a professional but has qualified for the Rookie of the Year award this season after throwing less than 30 innings last year, is one of the strongest candidates for the award.

Moon Hyun-bin, along with Lotte Kim Min-seok, among the rookie fielders this season, ended the first half with more than the prescribed at-bats. Although his batting average is not high at 0.250, he showed his ability to hit long balls with three home runs, and he also played various positions in defense to help manage the team's fielders. He played mainly in the center field and played 392 innings, ranking first in the team's center field defense innings. In the infield as well as the outfield, he played defense in all infield positions except the first baseman, showing tremendous multi-position ability (48 innings for shortstop, 46 innings for second baseman, 1 inning for third baseman).

Kang Min-ho (Samsung) and Yang Eui-ji (Doosan), the best catchers in the KBO League, also rarely appeared in the game in their first year of joining the team. However, Kim Dong-heon (Kiem) played 57 games in the first half and 295⅔ innings in defense. The record ranks 10th among all KBO league catchers in the first half of this season. The stolen base blocking rate was 25.9%, ranking sixth among the players who came out as catchers in more than 200 innings. It doesn't look fancy on the surface, but it can be said that it is an excellent performance just for a high school graduate to play steadily with the team's trust as a catcher. Kim Dong-heon was also selected to represent the Asian Games thanks to his performance in the first half.  스포츠토토

In Lotte, Yoon Dong-hee and Kim Min-seok's performance stands out. Yoon Dong-hee, who emerged as a hope for Lotte's outfield, also made a surprise performance in the first half. He has been active since late April and has not yet entered the regular at-bat, but he finished the first half with a high batting average of 0.321. In particular, he showed a hot sense of hitting in June and July, and he has continued his hit streak in 16 consecutive games from Suwon KT on June 21 to Lotte's last game of the first half, Changwon NC on July 13. He also recorded his first walk-off hit in the bottom of the 10th inning against Doosan in Ulsan on June 30.

Kim Min-seok, who joined Lotte as the third-ranked player in the first round of the 2023 draft, has also been showing his performance that meets high expectations since his first year of debut. Lotte is steadily helping the team by playing in 70 of the 77 games played in the first half. He hit 56 hits in the first half and is worth challenging his 100 hits record in his first year of debut. Kim Min-seok, who is also loved by fans, was named the 4th All-Star Best 12 as a first-year high school graduate.

Kim Dong-joo (Doosan) has grown into Doosan's main starting pitcher. Kim Dong-joo, who surprised fans by starting his first appearance of the season with six scoreless innings, later recorded seven scoreless innings against KIA in Jamsil on May 12, proving that his first appearance was no coincidence. Although he failed to accumulate many wins, he pitched 51⅔ innings in 11 games and ended the first half with a 3.31 ERA. If Kim Dong-joo holds out on the mound in the second half, it is expected to help Doosan fight in the rankings.