Busan:Doosan Bears starter Gwak Been, who excelled in the South Korean baseball league with leading figures in ERA and strikeouts this year, has been honored with the country's top pitching award. Gwak was announced as the winner of the 2026 Choi Dong-won Award, which has been acknowledging the premier pitcher in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) since 2014.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Gwak received first-place votes from six out of seven members of the award selection committee. His impressive season included an 11-7 win-loss record in 27 starts, covering 161 innings. He led the KBO with a 2.24 ERA and 197 strikeouts, being the only starter to maintain an ERA under 3.00 for the season.
Gwak's achievements extended beyond the KBO; he played a crucial role in South Korea's gold medal victory at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in September. Over two starts, including one against Japan in the gold medal game, he allowed just one run in 12 1/3 innings and struck out 19 batters. Although Gwak did not meet all the usual criteria for the award, such as 180 innings pitched and 12 wins, the committee granted him an exception due to his two-week absence from the regular season to compete in the Asian Games.
The Choi Dong-won Award commemorates the late pitcher Choi Dong-won, considered one of KBO's all-time greats. Choi's remarkable career included a standout performance in the 1984 Korean Series, where he led the Lotte Giants to victory with four wins in the series. The award ceremony is set for November 11 in Busan, honoring Choi's legacy, and Gwak will receive a trophy and 20 million won (US$15,000) in prize money.