Kim Seo-hyun sets All-Star voting record

Kim Seo-hyun, the 21-year-old closer for Hanwha, set a new record for the most fan votes in Korea Baseball Organization All-Star history. With the All-Star Game returning to Daejeon, the team’s home city, for the first time in 13 years, Hanwha celebrated a double milestone.

The KBO announced on Monday the final "Best 12" rosters for the Dream (Kiwoom, Hanwha, KIA, LG, NC) and Nanum (Doosan, Lotte, Samsung, KT, SSG) teams for the upcoming All-Star Game, scheduled for July 12 at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon. The selections were based on a combined vote of fans (70 percent) and players (30 percent).

From June 2 to 22, Kim received 1,717,766 votes in the fan poll, breaking the previous record of 1,530,047 votes set by Lee Seung-yeop of Samsung in 2015. He is the first Hanwha player to top the fan voting since Lee Yong-kyu in 2016. With an additional 220 votes from players, Kim earned a final score of 54.19 to claim the closer role for the Nanum Team.

Now in his third professional season and his first year as a full-time closer, Kim has impressed with a fastball approaching 160 kilometers per hour. As of Sunday, he had pitched in 37 games, posting a 1-1 record with one hold, 18 saves, and a league-leading 1.51 ERA among pitchers with 10 or more saves.

Hanwha, which leads the league in team ERA (3.41), dominated the Nanum Team pitching selections. Ponce (31) was selected as the starting pitcher, and Park Sang-won (31) as a middle reliever. Foreign hitter Estevan Florial (28) also made the Best 12 as an outfielder.

The player with the most votes from fellow players was Samsung first baseman Díaz (29), who received 241 votes. As of the same date, he is batting .299 with 27 home runs and 79 RBIs, leading both categories by wide margins, eight more home runs than second-place Austin Dean (32, LG) and 20 more RBIs than second-place Jeimer Candelario Reyes (31, Lotte).

The closest race was in the Nanum Team’s designated hitter category. Last year’s All-Star MVP, Choi Hyung-woo, 42, narrowly beat Hanwha’s Moon Hyun-bin, 21, with a vote margin of 32.98 to 32.71. Choi set a new record as the oldest position player selected to the Best 12.

Samsung catcher Kang Min-ho (40) earned 43.41 points to join the Best 12 for the Dream Team, tying the All-Star appearance record (15 times) held by Yang Joon-hyuk (56, retired) and Kim Hyun-soo (37, LG). However, if Kim Hyun-soo is selected by the manager’s pick, he will set a new record. Dream Team manager Park Jin-man (Samsung) and Nanum Team manager Lee Beom-ho (KIA) will each select 13 additional players, with their full rosters to be announced later.

By team, Lotte led all clubs with six players selected to the Best 12. Ko Seung-min (25, 2B), Jeon Min-jae (26, SS), and Reyes (OF) were all first-time All-Stars. They were followed by Samsung, with five players, and Hanwha, with four. Doosan, Kiwoom, and KT did not place any players in the Best 12.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com