Even just one vote is precious.
Ha-Seong Kim received votes again in the MLB.com MVP mock vote. MLB.com releases the results of mock voting every month, and Ha-seong Kim was included in the list of players who received votes even though he did not make the top 5 in either August or September. The September mock vote was released on the 8th (Korean time).메이저놀이터
The American League is dominated by Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels). It received first place votes from all 54 experts. It is likely that he will become the unanimous MVP once again in two years following 2021. On the other hand, the National League is a major battle. In the first half of the season, Ronald Acuna Jr. (Atlanta Braves) was the dominant player, but in the second half, Mookie Betts (LA Dodgers) is on the rise.
In fact, according to MLB.com’s September mock vote, Acuna received 28 first-place votes and Betts received 26 first-place votes. The situation is quite different from the American League’s Ohtani, who received 54 votes. Now, the American media also views the National League MVP as a major battle.
Followed by Freddie Freeman (LA Dodgers), Matt Olson (Atlanta Braves), and Corbin Carroll (Arizona Diamondbacks) took 3rd to 5th place. The prevailing view is that they will not be able to break the two-way battle between Acuna, who has an 8+2 year contract worth $124 million, and Betts, who has a 12-year contract worth $360 million.
As such, the National League MVP race is a $484 million (approximately 645.8 billion won) war. In this gap, Kim Ha-seong also confidently received votes. It is certain that they did not receive first place votes since only Akuna and Betz received them, but it is unknown how many second to fifth place votes they received. In the MVP vote, 5 to 1 points are assigned to the 1st to 5th place votes, and the ranking is determined by the combined score.
In any case, it is clear that Ha-seong Kim received votes in the National League MVP vote in September. According to MLB.com, the players who did not enter the top five like Ha-seong Kim and only received votes were Cody Bellinger, Justin Steele (Chicago Cubs), Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso (New York Mets), Luis Arraez (Miami Marlins), Juan Soto (San Diego Padres), Jack Wheeler, Bryce Harper (Philadelphia Phillies).
If Kim Ha-seong actually receives votes in the MVP voting that will be held after the season, he will become the third Korean major leaguer to receive MVP votes, following Choo Shin-soo (Cleveland Guardians) in 2010, Choo Shin-soo (Cincinnati Reds) in 2013, and Ryu Hyun-jin (LA Dodgers) in 2019.