The “Best 12” for the 2023 KBO League All-Star Game have been finalized.
Kiwoom Heroes’ Lee Jung-hoo topped both the fan vote and the player vote. Lee, who joined the organization in 2017, has been named to the Best 12 five times before, but this is the first time he has received the most votes.안전놀이터
After topping the fan vote in the first and second rounds, Lee held onto the top spot until the end. The NAVER All-Star outfielder received 1,245,779 votes out of a total of 2,382,366 votes, the only player to receive more than a majority. He also received 276 of 355 votes (77.7 percent) in the player voting, ranking first overall. Lee set a new record for most squad votes (previously held by Na Sung-beom in 2016 and Jose Pirela in 2022 with 236 each) and percentage of votes. He also became only the second player in history to win both the fan vote and the squad vote, following Yang Ji (Doosan Bears) in 2018.
Lee Jung-hoo, the KBO’s top star, was named to the Best 12 for the fifth consecutive season and sixth time in his career.
Lotte players high-five after their victory over Doosan in Jamsil on April 2. By Kim Min-kyu in Jamsil
For the first time since the introduction of the 10-team system in 2015, 10 clubs have produced at least one “Best 12” player. The Lotte Giants, who were on a roll in April and May, continued their early momentum and had the most “Best 12” players with seven. Park Se-woong, Koo Seung-min and Kim Won-joong were all selected, while Ahn Chi-hong, Noh Jin-hyuk, Jeon Jun-woo and Kim Min-seok were selected.
The KIA Tigers follow with four players, including Choi Hyung-woo and Yang Hyun-jong, Socrates, and Choi Ji-min. LG Twins (Ko Woo-seok and Park Dong-won), Kiwoom Heroes (Lee Jung-hoo and Kim Hye-sung), NC Dinos (Park Gun-woo and Kim Joo-won), Hanwha Eagles (Chae Eun-sung and Noh Si-hwan), and Samsung Lions (Koo Ja-uk and Pirela) each had two “Best 12” players. Leaders SSG Landers barely made the cut with just one player in the ‘Home Runs’ category. The Doosan Bears and KT Wiz also only had one player each, Yang Ji and Park Byung-ho.
The fan vote (70%) was conducted from June 5 to 25. This was combined with the 30 percent of the player vote (June 13-15) to determine the final “Best 12. There were a few cases where players who were ahead in the fan vote were overturned in the player vote.
KT’s Park Byung-ho (31.75 total points) trailed Lotte’s Ko Seung-min (25.72 total points – 801,055 votes, 27 player votes) in the Dream All-Star First Base category with 690,288 fan votes, but overtook him with 151 player votes. LG’s Go Woo-seok earned a total of 29.88 (501,429 total votes, 180 varsity votes), overtaking KIA’s Jung Hae-young (29.50 – 912,951 total votes, 33 varsity votes) by just 0.38 points.
SSG’s Seo Jin-yong (left) and Eredia. Jamsil Kim Min-gyu Reporter
There were also mixed results from the player and fan votes. SSG’s Seo Jin-yong and Guillermo Heredia led the league in saves and batting average, respectively, but narrowly missed out on their first-ever Best 12 selections after losing out to their rivals in the fan vote. In addition, Kiwoom’s Ahn Woo-jin, LG’s Oh Ji-hwan and Park Myung-geun-Austin, Doosan’s Raul Alcantara, KT’s Park Young-hyun, Samsung’s Kim Ji-chan, and SSG’s Park Sung-sung were unable to make up for their deficit in the fan vote, despite receiving the most votes for each Dream All-Star position.
Lotte high school rookie Kim Min-seok, who was named to the “Best 12” Dream All-Star Outfielders, finished in third place after combining the fan vote (958,811 votes – second place) and the squad vote. He is the fourth high school rookie ever to be named to the Best 12 after Ahn Chi-hong, Lee Jeong-hoo, and Jung Woo-young.
LOTTE’s Park Se-woong, Noh Jin-hyuk, Kim Min-seok, KIA’s Choi Ji-min, Kiwoom’s Kim Hye-sung, and NC’s Kim Joo-won were named to the Best 12 for the first time in their careers.
There will be 13 head coach’s picks and a total of 26 players on the roster, which will be announced at a later date.