The Doosan Bears, wandering in 9th place in the regular season, have failed to produce a Best 12 All-Star for the first time in three years. Their last hope, Yang Eui-ji, could not overcome the wall of Kang Min-ho (Samsung Lions).
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) officially announced on the afternoon of the 23rd that the Best 12 for the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO All-Star Game has been finalized.
The Best 12 for the All-Star Game was determined through a three-week fan voting (70%) and player voting (30%) conducted on three voting pages: the KBO website, the KBO official application, and the Shinhan SOL Bank application, from the 2nd to 22nd.
Doosan, belonging to the Dream All-Stars, had players such as Choi Seung-yong (starting pitcher), Lee Young-ha (middle pitcher), Kim Taek-yeon (closer), Yang Eui-ji (catcher), Yang Seok-hwan (first baseman), Kang Seung-ho (second baseman), Lim Jong-seong (third baseman), Oh Myung-jin (shortstop), Jung Soo-bin, Jake Cave, and Kim In-tae (all outfielders), and Kim Jae-hwan (designated hitter) challenging for the Best 12.
The disappointment in the performance this season among Doosan fans has decreased compared to the past. While the Lotte Giants produced six players (Kim Won-jung, Go Seung-min, Jeon Min-jae, Yoon Dong-hee, Víctor Reyes, and Jeon Jun-woo), Samsung had five players (Won Tae-in, Bae Chan-seung, Kang Min-ho, Lewin Díaz, and Koo Ja-wook), and SSG Landers produced one player (Choi Jeong), Doosan and KT Wiz experienced the humiliation of having 'zero' players. In this All-Star fan vote, the teams that failed to produce any players include Doosan, KT, and the sharing All-Stars, Kiwoom Heroes.
The last time Doosan failed to produce an All-Star Best 12 was in 2022. At that time, they fell to 8th place in the ranking at the time of the All-Star voting, resulting in failing to produce the Best All-Stars along with the 9th place NC Dinos and the 10th place Hanwha Eagles. The highest ranking was achieved by middle pitcher Hong Geon-hee and catcher Yang Eui-ji, who ranked 2nd, which reflects that for two consecutive years, they received the cold shoulder from fans. The 2022 season was also the season that Doosan fell to 9th place for the first time since their establishment.
In the past two years, Doosan consistently produced Best 12 through fan voting against the strong support of Lotte and Samsung. In the 2023 All-Star Game, Yang Eui-ji secured the first place in the catcher category, maintaining Doosan's pride, while in last year's All-Star Game, three players, Kim Taek-yeon (closer), Yang Eui-ji (catcher), and Jung Soo-bin (outfielder), emerged as Best All-Stars. Yang Eui-ji received the highest number of votes in the Dream team, and Kim Taek-yeon received the highest number of player votes.
This year, 9th place Doosan's only hopes rested on Yang Eui-ji, Kim Taek-yeon, and Jung Soo-bin. Yang Eui-ji ranked first in the player voting for catchers, securing 155 votes, but fell to second place overall (total score 26.06) as the fan votes totaled only 647,810. He could not surpass Kang Min-ho, who received 1,591,268 fan votes and 139 player votes (total score 43.41). Notably, Yang Eui-ji garnered fewer fan votes than Lotte's Yoo Kang-nam, who had 667,286 votes despite recently spending time reconditioning in the 2nd team.
Second-year player Kim Taek-yeon also did not receive as much support from fans as he did last year when he won the Rookie of the Year. He finished fourth in the closer category with 444,933 fan votes and 68 player votes (total score 14.71). Jung Soo-bin also ended up with 402,920 fan votes and 52 player votes, ranking 9th among 15 outfielders (total score 12.42).
The remaining players could not avoid finishing last due to being shunned by both fans and players. Choi Seung-yong, Lee Young-ha, Yang Seok-hwan, Kang Seung-ho, Lim Jong-seong, and Kim Jae-hwan all placed last in their respective categories, tarnishing the pride of the popular club Doosan. This is interpreted as a reflection of the harsh sentiment from fans due to the manager's resignation and the team's plunge to 9th place this season.
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