Korean Kia Tigers reliever Jung Hai-young becomes first closer to top KBO All-Star fan voting

Kia Tigers right-hander Jung Hai-young has become the first closer to lead the All-Star Game fan voting in Korean baseball.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced starters for its annual All-Star Game on Monday, with fans and fellow players voting in 12 players per side — the Dream and Nanum teams. Those 12 positions were starting pitcher, middle reliever, closer, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, three outfielders and designated hitter (DH).

Representatives for the Tigers will be on the Nanum side, along with those from the LG Twins, NC Dinos, Hanwha Eagles and Kiwoom Heroes. Players from the Samsung Lions, Doosan Bears, SSG Landers, Lotte Giants and KT Wiz will make up the Dream squad.

According to the KBO, Jung collected 1,396,077 votes to lead all players, with Bears catcher Yang Eui-ji finishing second overall at 1,362,773 votes and getting the starting job for the Dream team.

Jung is currently second in the KBO with 20 saves and has a 2.08 ERA in 30 outings covering 30 1/3 innings. Jung has recorded 109 saves since becoming the Tigers’ closer in 2021, the second-highest total in the KBO in that span.

The KBO added the closer position for fan voting in 2015, and Jung is the first closer to top fan voting.

Fan voting accounted for 70 percent of the selection process, and peer voting was responsible for the remaining 30 percent. Voting totals were converted to points. Jung earned 144 votes from his peers and finished with 43.69 voting points.

Bears rookie closer Kim Taek-yeon led all players with 48.83 points, thanks to about 1.34 million votes from fans and 211 votes from his peers, to win the middle relief gig for the Dream team.

For the Nanum team, seven Tigers made the starting lineup: Jung, middle reliever Jeon Sang-hyun, first baseman Lee Woo-sung, third baseman Kim Do-yeong, shortstop Park Chan-ho, outfielder Na Sung-bum and DH Choi Hyoung-woo.

Hanwha Eagles left-hander Ryu Hyun-jin, back in the KBO this season after 11 years in the majors, will start for the Nanum squad. This will be Ryu’s fifth All-Star starting nod. He edged out Tigers pitcher Yang Hyeon-jong by 0.62 point, making it the most closely contested position.

Other Nanum starters are Twins catcher Park Dong-won, Heroes second baseman Kim Hye-seong, Eagles outfielder Yonathan Perlaza and Heroes outfielder Ronnie Dawson.

The Lions are well represented on the Dream team, with six of the 12 starters: starting pitcher Won Tae-in, closer Oh Seung-hwan, first baseman David MacKinnon, second baseman Ryu Ji-hyuk, shortstop Lee Jae-hyeon and DH Koo Ja-wook.

Other starting players for Dream are Landers third baseman Choi Jeong, Landers outfielder Guillermo Heredia, Bears outfielder Jung Soo-bin and Giants outfielder Yoon Dong-hee.

Choi, who became the KBO career home run king in April, has made an All-Star Game starting lineup for the eighth time, a record at third base.

All three Dream outfielders will make their first All-Star Game starts. Koo is making his first start as DH after being voted in twice as a first baseman and five times as an outfielder.

Overall, 12 out of 24 starting players have been voted in for the first time.

The KBO said fans cast a little over 3.2 million votes, an all-time record.

Managers for each team, Wiz manager Lee Kang-chul for Dream and Twins skipper Youm Kyoung-youb for Nanum, will each select 13 reserves.

The All-Star Game will be played at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, just west of Seoul, on July 6.

The KBO is on pace to shatter its single-season attendance record of 8.4 million this year. The league topped 5 million fans Saturday after 345 games, the fewest total since it expanded to 10 teams in 2015. Teams have combined for 107 sellouts through Sunday, already a record in the 10-team setting by 39. (Yonhap)