Lee Jung-hoo named 2022 KBO MVP

Baseball

Published: 17 Nov. 2022, 17:40 Updated: 17 Nov. 2022, 21:16

Lee Jung-hoo named 2022 KBO MVP

Lee Jung-hoo of the Kiwoom Heroes celebrates after winning the 2022 KBO MVP award at The Westin Josun Seoul in central Seoul on Thursday. [NEWS1]

Lee Jung-hoo of the Kiwoom Heroes was named the 2022 KBO MVP at the league award ceremony on Thursday.

Lee, playing his sixth season in the league, picked up 104 votes out of a total of 107 to finish ahead of Lotte Giants Lee Dae-ho in second and Kiwoom Heroes An Woo-jin in third. This year’s MVP voting was changed from a points system to the number of votes.

Lee's award marks the first time that the son of a previous MVP has won the same award. Lee’s father Lee Jong-beom was named MVP back in 1994. When he was a player, Lee Jong-beom was nicknamed "son of the wind." In his honor, Lee Jung-hoo is now known as "grandson of the wind."

Lee the first Korean to take the MVP title in four years. Kim Jae-hwan of the Doosan Bears was the last Korean MVP in 2018, with teammate Josh Lindblom of the Bears taking the award in 2019, Mel Rojas Jr. of the KT Wiz taking it in 2020 and Ariel Miranda of the Bears winning in 2021.

Lee is the third player ever to have won both Rookie of the Year, which he won in 2017, and MVP during their career. Former Hanwha Eagles ace Ryu Hyun-jin, who now plays for the Toronto Blue Jays in the majors, also won both awards, as did Lee's former teammate Seo Geon-chang, now of the LG Twins.

“Six years ago when I was named the Rookie of the Year, I watched the more seasoned players receive the MVP award and thought to myself that I wanted to win that award someday,” said Lee. “I am honored to achieve that goal.”

The awardees at the 2022 KBO Awards pose with their awards on the stage at The Westin Josun Seoul in central Seoul on Thursday. [NEWS1]

In addition to the MVP award, Lee dominated the batting titles and took two of three triple crown categories. He won his second straight batting title with a .349 batting average and led the league with 113 RBIs. The home run title went to Park Byung-ho of the KT Wiz, with Lee finishing tied for fifth.

Prior to the MVP announcement, the KBO’s Rookie of the Year was also named.

Top rookie honors went to Doosan Bears pitcher Jeong Cheol-won, with 74 out of 107 votes. He is only the seventh Bear to take the honor in the 40-year history of the Seoul club.

“I think I was able to push harder because the contender was Kim In-hwan of the Hanwha Eagles,” said Jeong. “My goal was to play the entire season without being injured. I think I was able to achieve this feat because I focused on that and tried hard. I want to become a pitcher like Kim Kwang-hyun that represents the league.”

Despite taking the KBO's first wire-to-wire regular season title and winning the Korean Series, the SSG Landers were absent from the awards, which focus on the individual leaders in the major batting and pitching categories.

An of the Heroes topped the table for ERA, at 2.11, and strikeouts, at 224, with Casey Kelly of the LG Twins leading for wins, at 16. Go Woo-suk of the Twins recorded the most saves, at 42, while teammate Jung Woo-young had the most holds, at 35. Um Sang-back of the Wiz had the best winning percentage, at 0.846.

As well as batting average and RBIs, Lee Jung-hoo led the league with 193 hits, a .421 on-base percentage and a .575 slugging percentage, becoming the first player in five years to top five batting categories.

The stolen bases title went to Park Chan-ho of the Kia Tigers, with 42, while Jose Pirela of the Samsung Lions crossed the plate the most times, with 102 runs.

The KBO Golden Glove awards, similar to the MLB Gold Gloves but with a focus on the offensive performance of players from each defensive position, will follow in the next few weeks.

BY YUN SO-HYANG AND JIM BULLEY [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]