LG Twins catcher Park Dong-won (33) left a warning message for starting pitcher Im Chan-kyu (31), who is in free agency talks. Affectionate
Park Dong-won won the Real Glove Catcher category at the 2023 Magumagu Real Glove Awards held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on Jan. 1.
After the ceremony, Park Dong-won said, “I didn’t expect it. I wasn’t prepared for the award, so I couldn’t properly express my gratitude to the players. I didn’t think I would be able to win the award, but now that I have, I feel like I have to work even harder,” he said.
KT Wiz’s Ko Young-pyo and Jang Sung-woo took home the Best Battery award.
Park Dong-won, who helped LG win its first consecutive title in 29 years, would have loved to win the battery award. But Park shook his head. “I didn’t think I would win any awards,” he said.
So which pitcher would he like to win the Battery Award with? “Of course, (Im) Chankyu. I want to share it with all the players, but I think of Chankyu, and then I think of (Yoo) Young-chan, and (Casey) Kelly. But Changu had a tough time with his free agency, so I think I’d like to have it with him.”
After being eligible for free agency last year but opting for “bad luck,” Im rebounded. After starting out as a long reliever, Lim won the starting job due to the poor performance of domestic starters. He went 14-3 with a 3.42 ERA in 30 games and 144⅔ innings pitched. His 14 wins were the most of any Korean pitcher. His performance helped LG win its first title in 29 years.
After the season, he will be eligible for free agency and will be on the market.
LG plans to retain Im Chan-kyu. They held one negotiation with the player’s side.
Park Dong-won left a warning (?) message for Im Chan-gyu. He said, “I think you’re indispensable. Don’t think about running away. If you run away, you’ll get a lot of flack from LG, our powerhouse. If he goes (to another team), all of our players will beat him up. I think Chan-gyu’s ERA will go up a lot,” he warned.
Still, they cheered him on with plenty of affection. Park Dong-won said, “I was worried about him during the season because he chose free agency. “I thought he could do well enough, and he was doing well, so I told him not to worry because I was the one who did it first,” he said. “He said he would be the first to let me know if he got a good contract, but I haven’t heard from him yet. I’m waiting to hear from him because I want him to do well,” he smiled.
Speaking of Park Dong-won, we can’t forget the ’10 million won prize’. Coach Yeom Kyung-yeop paid his players in advance of the Korean Series. Aside from the Korean Series MVP, he decided to honor the player who showed outstanding performance. It’s called the Acha Award.
Park Dong-won and Yoo Young-chan were the main recipients. Park Dong-won hit a game-winning two-run shot in Game 2 and followed it up with another game-winning two-point arch in Game 3.
Yoo Young-chan was a big help in the bullpen, throwing 2⅓ scoreless innings in Game 2, 2 scoreless innings in Game 3, and 1 scoreless inning in Game 5. Initially, the 10 million won was to be divided into 5 million won each for Park Dong-won and Yoo Young-chan, but after protests from Park Dong-won, the decision was made to give both players 10 million won. 아톰카지노 도메인
Park Dong-won said, “I got the money right away. The coach was so generous and cool that I bought a gift for my wife on the way back from a group trip to Japan. I bought her a bag.”
After the victory, the team is now preparing for the next season. “Now I’m back to my normal routine and spending time with my family. I’m going to start working out next week,” he said of his off-season plans.
