“I’m relieved. Today’s results give me a new goal for next year.”
He attended with determination, but when he realized that he was not the winner, he had no choice but to sigh. Park Sung-han (26, SSG Landers), a national shortstop who missed his first golden glove in front of his eyes, predicted 2025 that he will grow a little more.
At the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO Golden Glove Awards held at the COEX Auditorium in Samseong-dong, Seoul on the 13th, the shortstop division was expected to be a battleground. 메이저사이트
As expected, winning shortstop Park Chan-ho (29, KIA Tigers) won 154 votes (53.5%) out of 288 valid votes, beating Park Sung-han who received 118 votes (41%).
Considering his performance during the regular season, he garnered a considerable number of votes. While playing the second and most defensive innings (1,120 ⅓ innings) as shortstop in the entire league this year, Park had a batting average of 0.307 (158 hits in 515 at-bats), five homers, 61 RBIs, 86 runs and 20 steals (success rate of 60.6 percent), and an on-base percentage of 0.363 on-base plus slugging percentage of 0.386 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 0.749, and wRC+ (adjusted scoring capacity) of 101.9.
In contrast, Park had a batting average of 0.301 (147 hits in 489 times at bat) in 137 games, 10 homers, 67 RBIs, 78 runs and 13 steals (success rate of 81.3 percent), an on-base percentage of 0.380 OPS of 0.411, and a wRC+103, outpacing Park Chan-ho in most batting indicators except for batting average, scoring and stealing. He was also a shortstop with only 10 KBO league players, with a batting average of .300 and double-digit homers (based on the inning standard).
The competition between the two drew a lot of attention as even the words “winning premium” and “national premium,” which should not be related to the selection of the Golden Glove in principle, were mentioned. SSG team officials cheered for Park by changing his messenger profile picture to a graphic “Gol, Yoo and Park (Golden Glove shortstop Park Sung-han)” and posting it on the team’s SNS. SSG fans also left numerous supportive comments wishing Park Sung-han to win the award in the post.
Did he know that? The moment Park Chan-ho’s name was called, SSG fans came to mind first. “The word KIA came out before Park Chan-ho’s name, and at that moment, I felt regret and sorry. SSG fans and team members gave me a lot of support and love, but I felt so sorry because I felt like I couldn’t repay you (with the award),” Park said after the ceremony.
Congratulations to Park Chan-ho, who competed in good faith, but renewed his commitment. “I think we received it because (Park) Chan-ho did a good job. You did a great job during the entire season,” Park said. “I think next year will be an even tougher competition. I received a lot of encouragement and will continue to challenge myself. Rather than feeling resentful, I think I lacked in myself and couldn’t ride it. I will try to do better and receive the prize more overwhelmingly from now on.”
This year, Park made his name widely known and imprinted on fans of all baseball teams by playing as the starting shortstop in the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 tournament. He played in four games, posting a batting average of 0.357 (five hits in 14 times at bat), two RBIs and four runs scored, and an on-base percentage of 0.438 with a slugging percentage of 0.500 OPS of 0.938. Notably, he led his team to a dramatic 9-6 victory against the Dominican Republic on Saturday with a come-from-behind two-run triple.
Park replied, “The player who is good at the national team will play in the same year. I don’t think I made a reservation for the next national team, because I did a good job this time. Three shortstop members attended the award ceremony today, but young players are also really good. This is why we cannot afford to remain complacent. We must continue to challenge ourselves and continue to work hard to achieve higher goals. I will do my best to be selected in the rest of the national team,” Park said.
