Can the professional baseball LG Twins catch up with the leading Hanwha Eagles in the second half? Park Dong-won, who won the MVP at the All-Star Game, remembered Choi Hyung-woo, who received the All-Star MVP last year, and the KIA Tigers, who won the Korean Series. Park Dong-won must take the lead to break the jinx of poor performance in the second half.
Park Dong-won was awarded the MVP at the 2025 KBO All-Star Game held on the 12th at Hanwha Life Park in Daejeon. As the starting catcher for the sharing All-Star team, Park Dong-won contributed by going 3-for-4 with 1 home run and 3 RBIs.
In the bottom of the first inning, leading 2-1, Park Dong-won hit a home run in his first at-bat. With two outs and a runner on first base, he hit a two-run home run over the left field fence against the starting pitcher Park Se-woong. In the second inning, with two outs and runners on first and third, he hit an RBI single against Woo Gyu-min. He was out on a ground ball in the fourth inning with two outs and runners on first and second, and in the seventh inning, he hit a single to left field against Kim Taek-yeon.
The sharing All-Stars won 8-6, and Park Dong-won received overwhelming support by receiving 27 out of 28 votes in the media voting for 'All-Star MVP'. He became the third LG player to receive the title of 'Mr. All-Star' following Ryu Ji-hyun in 1997 and Lee Byung-kyu in 2011.
After receiving the All-Star MVP, Park Dong-won said, 'Last year, Hyung-woo received Mr. All-Star, and KIA won the Korean Series. I hope LG can win like Hyung-woo and KIA did last year. Now that I have received the MVP, I will do my best to continue that momentum.'
Last year, Choi Hyung-woo won the oldest (40 years, 6 months, 20 days) All-Star MVP in history, and KIA achieved a combined championship. Park Dong-won mentioned hopes for victory similar to Choi Hyung-woo and KIA last year.
LG is currently in second place with a record of 48 wins, 38 losses, and 2 ties (winning percentage .558). Hanwha, in first place, leads by 4.5 games with a record of 52 wins, 33 losses, and 2 ties (winning percentage .612). In order for LG to reclaim first place, Park Dong-won must step up. Manager Youm Kyoung-youb mentioned that key players in the second half must be 'Park Dong-won, Moon Bo-gyeong, and Oh Ji-hwan.'
By the end of May, Park Dong-won had a batting average of .310 with 13 home runs and an OPS of .977, but in June, he slumped with a batting average of .217 and an OPS of .714. In July, he has shown gradual improvement with a batting average of .281 over 9 games.
Park Dong-won has a jinx of poor performance in the second half. Last year, he recorded a batting average of .272 with 13 home runs and an OPS of .857 over the first half of 76 games. However, in the second half, although he had the same batting average of .272 over 54 games, he hit only 7 home runs and had an OPS of .749, indicating a decline in power hitting.
In 2023, when KIA achieved the combined championship, Park Dong-won also showed a significant gap in performance between the first and second halves. In the first half, he performed well with a batting average of .272, 15 home runs, and an OPS of .871 over 77 games, but in the second half, his batting average dropped sharply to .213 with 5 home runs and an OPS of .618 over 53 games. The physical burden of the catcher position, combined with a decline in hitting performance every summer, has repeated each year.
Park Dong-won said, 'The gap with first place Hanwha is 4.5 games. I believe it is a gap that can be overturned with the remaining games.' Overcoming the jinx of poor performance in the second half will be essential for this to be possible.
[OSEN]