[Official Announcement] "Despite falling short of 12 wins and 180 innings," Kwak Bin secures overwhelming first-place votes to receive the Choi Dong-won Award! First domestic pitcher to win in four years since Kim Kwang-hyun

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Kwak Bin (27), the homegrown ace of the Doosan Bears, was named the recipient of his first Choi Dong-won Award, recognized for his dominant pitching performances during both the regular season and while wearing the national team jersey.

The Choi Dong-won Memorial Foundation, a non-profit corporation that oversees the "BNK Busan Bank Choi Dong-won Award," officially announced on the 19th, "We have selected Kwak Bin as the recipient of the 13th BNK Busan Bank Choi Dong-won-sang (수상)."

At the selection committee meeting held on the 15th, Kwak Bin received overwhelming support. Out of seven selection committee members—Song Jin-woo, Yeom Jong-seok, Park Myung-hwan, Park Ji-hoon, Heo Soon-ho, and Park Dong-hee—under Kim Si-jin Seon Jeong-wi (Director), a remarkable six selected Kwak Bin as their first choice. This marks the first award for a domestic pitcher in four years, following Kim Kwang-hyun (SSG Landers) in 2022.

The Choi Dong-won Award selects the best pitcher of the season based on strict criteria, including at least 25 starts, 12 wins, an ERA of 3.00 or lower, 180 innings pitched, 150 strikeouts, and at least 15 quality starts (defined as pitching six or more innings with three or fewer earned runs as a starter). Kwak Bin did not meet some of these criteria, specifically the 12th wins and 180 innings marks, due to his call-up to the Asian Games national team. However, this had little impact on the selection committee's decision.

His performance this season was that dominant. In the regular season, Kwak Bin appeared in 27 games, recording an 11-7 win-loss record, a 2.24 ERA, and 197 strikeouts over 161 innings, leading the Doosan starting rotation. He ranked first in the entire KBO League in both ERA and strikeouts, claiming the pitching double crown. As the only starter to post an ERA in the low 2s, he firmly established himself as the league's best homegrown starter in name and reality.

On the international stage, he delivered pitching worthy of being called "Korea's ace." Kwak Bin was selected to the national team as a wildcard for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held last month. He took responsibility for the starting mound in every crucial game.

In the first group stage game against Taiwan, he shut out the opposition scoreless over six innings without allowing a single hit, leveraging fastballs reaching up to 164 km/h. In the final against Japan, he endured for 6⅓ innings, throwing 111 pitches and recording four hits allowed, nine strikeouts, and one run allowed despite adverse conditions with rain falling. Korea achieved a fifth consecutive Asian Games baseball title, powered by Kwak Bin's outstanding pitching.

The Choi Dong-won Memorial Foundation explained the background of the selection, stating, "With his dominant performance this season, he was truly the best ace in Korea in name and reality. He was the best player of the season, shining just like his nickname 'Kwak Light' (a play on Kwak Bin)." The foundation added, "Although his win count and innings pitched were slightly short due to his call-up for the Asian Games, we determined that he met the qualifications of an ace left by Choi Dong-won, earning him overwhelming support from the selection committee."

The Choi Dong-won Award began in 2014 with Yang Hyeon-jong as its inaugural recipient. Recently, aces who represented the KBO League in their respective seasons have lifted the trophy, including Eric Pae in 2023, Kyle Hart in 2024, and Cody Ponce last year. In particular, Ponce was selected as the 12th award winner by unanimous decision of the selection committee last year.

Kwak Bin, who entered professional baseball after being drafted first overall by Doosan in 2018, has now added his name to that lineage. Kwak Bin expressed his gratitude, saying, "First and foremost, I sincerely thank the Choi Dong-won Memorial Foundation and all those involved for selecting me. It is an honor to receive the Choi Dong-won Award as a pitcher." He continued, "Although I have never seen the late senior Choi Dong-won pitch in person, I know how extraordinary he was, which makes the weight of this award feel even greater."

He further pledged, "I will continue to work hard and stay healthy so that I can prove that Lee Beon (수상) is no accident," adding, "I am grateful to everyone who has supported me, and I will always proceed humbly, one step at a time."

The ceremony for the 13th BNK Busan Bank Choi Dong-won Award will be held at 2 p.m. on the 11th of next month in the Ocean Hall on the second floor of the Busan Bank headquarters. Kwak Bin will be presented with a trophy modeled after Choi Dong-won's pitching form and a prize money of 20 million won.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original