[Official Announcement] From '0-pitch gold medal' to '111-pitch fighting spirit': Doosan's Kwak Bin finally wins the Choi Dong-won Award! Chairman Kim Si-jin: "Reminded me of Choi Dong-won's pitching"

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

"During the Asian Games, it literally brought to mind the way (Choi) Dong-won used to pitch in the old days."

These were the words of former manager Kim Si-jin (68), who once shared the pitcher's mound with Korean baseball legend Choi Dong-won, as he recalled Kwak Bin's (27, Doosan Bears) pitching. Three years ago at the Asian Games, Kwak was unable to throw a single pitch, but this year he delivered a dominant performance of 111 pitches in the final against Japan, and finally received the Choi Dong-won Award, given to Korea's top pitcher.

Kwak Bin was honored with the award at the 13th BNK Busan Bank Choi Dong-won Award ceremony held on the 11th at the Ocean Hall of the BNK Busan Bank headquarters in Nam-gu, Busan.

Established in 2014, the Choi Dong-won Award is presented to the pitcher who delivers the best performance in a single season. Kwak became the first domestic pitcher to win the award in four years, following Kim Kwang-hyun in 2022. In his acceptance speech, Kwak said, "I am grateful to have received such a prestigious award that recognizes me not just as someone who throws pitches, but truly as a pitcher. I believe that any player can receive this award if they work hard, not just me. I will play baseball humbly so that I can prove next year that winning this award was no coincidence."

His performance this year was overwhelming. In the regular season, Kwak recorded 11 wins and 7 losses in 27 games, with an ERA of 2.24, 197 strikeouts over 161 innings. He led the league in both ERA and strikeouts, and also ranked first overall with a walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) of 1.04. Notably, he recorded 20 quality starts (at least six innings pitched with three or fewer earned runs allowed) out of his 27 appearances. He played a decisive role in Doosan advancing to the postseason as the fifth-place team in the regular season.

The path to winning the award was not smooth. The Choi Dong-won Award has strict selection criteria, including a minimum of 25 starts, 12 wins, an ERA below 3.00, 180 innings pitched, 150 strikeouts, and 15 quality starts. Due to factors such as his call-up to the national team for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, Kwak failed to meet the requirements of 12 wins and 180 innings.

However, six out of the seven members of the Choi Dong-won Award selection committee chose Kwak as their first choice. In addition to his dominant regular season statistics, his pitching as a national team member received high praise. Former manager Kim Si-jin, who served as the chairman of the selection committee, stated, "The selection committee members deliberated quite a bit. Last year was the same, and many foreign players have won it in recent years, so there was also a thought that we would like to see a domestic player win it this year." He added, "During the Asian Games, it literally brought to mind the way (Choi) Dong-won used to pitch in the old days," explaining that he himself voted for Kwak.

In fact, Kwak's performance at this year's Asian Games was completely different from three years ago. At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held in 2023, Kwak was unable to appear in a single game due to overlapping injury and cold symptoms. Although the national team won the gold medal, Kwak was left with the unwelcome label of a "0-pitch gold medal."

At this year's 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, he was selected as a wild card and served as the ace of the national team. In the first game against Taiwan, he pitched brilliantly for six scoreless innings with no hits allowed and 10 strikeouts. In the final against Japan, he recorded four hits allowed, nine strikeouts, and one run allowed over 6⅓ innings.

In particular, despite adverse conditions with rain falling, he threw a whopping 111 pitches, and Korea achieved its fifth consecutive Asian Games baseball title, led by Kwak's excellent pitching. However, Kwak reflected, saying, "If I could go back, my biggest thought is that I should have shut them down through the seventh inning." He added, "Because I was picked as a wild card, I felt a great sense of responsibility, and I also felt sorry toward my junior teammates."

He cited his ERA as his most satisfying statistic. Kwak explained, "As a starting pitcher, I believe one must manage the game with many innings and minimal runs allowed." He also revealed why he engaged in a head-on battle against Victor Reyes in games against the Lotte Giants this season. Kwak said, "I really didn't want to avoid him. I didn't want to give the impression of running away on the pitcher's mound, so I challenged him with pitches I was confident in."

His goal for next year is Doosan's advancement to and victory in the Korea Series. He stated, "Next year, my biggest goal is to climb to a higher ranking, whether third or second place instead of fifth, advance to the Korea Series, and win the championship."

Meanwhile, Choi Dong-won's mother, Mrs. Kim Jung-ja, and Cho Woo-hyun, chairman of the Choi Dong-won Memorial Foundation, among others, attended the ceremony that day. Chairman Cho stated, "The United States has the Cy Young Award, and Japan has the Sawamura Award. We will continuously develop the Choi Dong-won Award so that it becomes a fitting counterpart in Korea."

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original