Hanwha’s Noh Si-hwan wins his first monthly MVP award “I want to serve coffee tea to fans at home games in Daejeon”
Hanwha Eagles slugger Noh Si-hwan, 22, has won his first KBO Monthly Most Valuable Player (MVP) title. It is the first time in five years and three months that a Hanwha player has won the monthly MVP award since Jung Woo-ram in May 2018.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced on Monday that “Noh Si-hwan was selected as the winner of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League Monthly MVP for July by receiving 4 out of 26 votes (15.4%) and 266,928 votes (59.1%) out of 451,658 fan votes for a total score of 37.24 points.” The KBO said. Noh will receive a prize of 2 million won and a donation of 2 million won will be given to his middle school, Gyeongnam Middle School, in his name.
In the month of July, Noh was on fire, batting .298 with six home runs (tied for first), 14 RBIs (tied for fifth) and a .649 on-base percentage (first). As of Aug. 8, he leads the league with 23 home runs on the season. He is three behind second-place SSG Landers’ Choi Jung (20).
“I don’t think I did that well, but the fans supported me a lot, so I got my first monthly MVP award,” said Noh in the dugout before the game against KT at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on September 9. I think it will be very memorable.”
When asked about the award, which is the first for a Hanwha player in five years and three months, Noh said, “I didn’t realize it had been five years. I didn’t think I would get this award. I focused on each match, and I think the award came to me.”
Noh Si-hwan himself felt that his July performance was disappointing. When asked who he would vote for if he could, Noh said, “NC’s Martin.” “He doesn’t hit home runs,” he said. “He has the same home runs and OPS as me, but he has more hits, more RBIs, and when he played against us, he hit a come-from-behind home run and two home runs, and it left a strong impression on me,” he explained. Martin batted .359 with five home runs and 20 RBIs in the month of July. One home run was the difference in the award.
Noh’s thoughts were similar. When asked what part of his game he thought resonated with fans, he said, “I think it’s the home run. The fans’ favorite thing is home runs, and Hanwha fans also have a longing for a home run hitter, and I think I’ve fulfilled that part a little bit,” he said, adding, “I want to hit a lot of home runs in August and try to win the monthly MVP for the second time in a row.”
Looking at Noh’s performance this season, he is in a position to not only win the monthly MVP, but also the regular season MVP. “It becomes a little bit more conscious when you start the second half of the season and the end of the season. I’m going to the Hangzhou Asian Games in the middle of the season, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to win the home run title, so I’m trying to minimize the ceremony.”메이저놀이터
“My teammates told me that coffee is a given, and that I should buy Starbucks coffee. Coffee is the default, and I think I need to do more,” he said, adding, “Since I won the prize thanks to the support of the fans, I would like to repay the love of the fans by serving coffee tea or something like that at the Daejeon home game.”