There’s a position that hasn’t produced a Golden Glove winner in 34 years.
At the 2023 Golden Glove Awards ceremony on Nov. 11, LG Twins’ foreign-born outfielder Austin Dean won the Golden Glove for first base. Not only was he LG’s first foreign player to win the award, but it was also the first first baseman Golden Glove for LG in 29 years, since Seo Yong-bin in 1994.
As you can see, there are certain positions that have not received a Golden Glove for a long time.
The position with the longest Golden Glove drought is catcher for the Hanwha Eagles. No one has won the award since Yoo Seung-an won it in 1989. That was when the team was called Binggrae, not Hanwha. That’s 34 years until this year. Yoo was the first and last Hanwha catcher to win the Golden Glove. The last decade has been dominated by Yang Ji-soo of the Doosan Bears and Kang Min-ho of the Samsung Lions. The current Hanwha catcher is Choi Jae-hoon. He’ll be 35 years old next year. We wonder if a Hanwha catcher will ever win a Golden Glove.
Hanwha hasn’t had an outfielder win the Golden Glove in 18 years, since Davis in 2005. The Golden Glove is most likely to be awarded to a player who hits well, and outfielders are especially important. This means that Hanwha hasn’t had a top-three outfielder for a long time. Still, 바카라사이트 this is the first time in 17 years that a third baseman has won the award since Lee Bum-ho in 2006.
While Austin broke a 29-year drought at first base, LG still has a drought to break.
Second and third basemen have also not won the award since 1994. Second baseman Park Jong-ho and third baseman Han Dae-hwa won the award in 1994. I wonder if Moon Bo-kyung at third base and Shin Min-jae at second base will emerge as mainstays and break the 30-year streak next year.
SSG Landers also has two positions that have yet to win a Golden Glove. These are first base and shortstop. The team was founded in 2001, so it’s been 23 years without one. Park Sung-seong was a candidate for shortstop last year and this year, but he was blocked by LG’s Oh Ji-hwan, and first base was not even nominated this year.
Samsung hasn’t had a Golden Glove in a surprising position for the longest time. First base. It’s been 19 years since Yang Jun-hyuk won it in 2004. Lee Seung-yup came back and won the Golden Glove in 2012, 2014, and 2015, but he was a designated hitter, not a first baseman. There hasn’t been a winner in the shortstop category since Park Jin-man won in 2007. It looks like Park will have to produce his own successor. Lotte hasn’t had a pitcher since Son Min-han in 2005, and the last shortstop was Park Ki-hyuk in 2008.
Even the Doosan Bears, who have produced a lot of good players in various positions with their watered-down baseball, have not had a second baseman win a Golden Glove since Ko Young-min in 2007.
They haven’t had a first baseman since Choi Jun-seok in 2010.
KIA hasn’t had a Golden Glove winner since catcher Kim Sang-hoon, first baseman Choi Hee-seop, and third baseman Kim Sang-hyun won the 2009 Korean Series.
Kiwoom, founded in 2008, still has no winners at catcher, third base, and designated hitter, while NC, founded in 2013, has no Golden Glove winners at shortstop, a position that is a rising powerhouse. KT still has many positions to honor. Since joining the first team in 2015, he has only won at first base, third base, and outfield. Five categories are still up for grabs: pitcher, catcher, second base, shortstop, and designated hitter.
Next season, we’ll see if clubs can fill in the blanks.
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