How many people believe that Samsung veteran catcher Kang Min-ho (38) has never received a monthly MVP since his debut.
Kang Min-ho was selected as the monthly MVP announced by KBO on the 9th. He was honored as the MVP, beating over KIA Kim Do-young, who is 18 years apart.토토사이트
It is the first monthly MVP that Kang Min-ho, who made his professional debut in 2004, will receive.
He hit 11 home runs to rank No. 1 in the home run category during the month of July, and posted a batting average of 0.408 (third), 26 RBIs (first), and a slugging percentage of 0.868 (first). He also gave his team the joy of winning the award for the first time in three years since Baek Jeong-hyun, who won the MVP award from July to August 2021.
Kang Min-ho, who met at Gwangju Stadium after winning the MVP, laughed when asked, “How have you never been?”
It was an unexpected win. “Kim Do-young has been enjoying the league this season, so I was satisfied with the monthly MVP award given by the club,” Kang said. “I feel great to be a contender for the monthly MVP like Kim Do-young. I’m so happy that I competed with a young player.”
There is no secret to hitting in July. “There was nothing different than amazing,” Kang said. “If I changed my batting form, I would say I would have changed it, but nothing has changed,” Kang said. “When I didn’t play much games in May, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t I have a chance? Let’s do my best to prepare what I can.’ But I was lucky enough to be able to perform better than myself.”
Still, his batting performance has not cooled down since August. He is recording a batting average of 0.344, as he had 11 hits in 32 at-bats in eight games in August.
Baseball is very difficult even for a veteran. “When I talk to Choi Hyung-woo from the Korea Baseball Organization, I think it’s better to keep the hitting sense when I’m young,” Kang said. “When I get older, I like him but I fall back down due to my physical strength. So, Hyung-woo asked me, ‘How will you be maintained?’ I thought, ‘If I had known, I would have done that. It worked out amazingly well for me, too.”
Kang Min-ho’s performance is not limited to hitting. He also shows rusty skills in his position as a catcher. In the match against LG at Jamsil on the 1st, he twice caught Park Hae-min, who is good at stealing.
He described it as “thin and long,” but Kang Min-ho’s biggest advantage is his consistency. Such consistency has been accumulated to create the current Kang Min-ho.
When asked until what age he wants to keep his contract, Kang said, “I don’t know.” He added, “First of all, the contract period is until next year. I think I should sign my fourth free agent contract by showing more competitiveness.”
Kang Min-ho became a free agent for the first time since the end of the 2013 season when he was a member of Lotte, and signed a four-year contract worth 7.5 billion won. When he became a free agent for the second time, he moved to Samsung on a four-year deal worth 8 billion won. Kang, who exercised his FA right again after the end of the 2021 season, stamped his seal for a total of 3.6 billion won for four years. He will also become a free agent at the end of the 2025 season. There have been no cases in the KBO league where he has successfully signed four free agent contracts.
Kang Min-ho said, “If I take good care of my body for my juniors and get the fourth FA, the same case can come out after me. I also want to set a good precedent.”