MLB.com has named Ha Sung Kim (27, San Diego Padres) a candidate for the All-MLB Team.MLB.com on Thursday named eight second baseman candidates for the All-MLB Team, categorizing them as “favorites,” “challengers” and “repeaters.Marcus Semien (Texas Rangers) and Luis Araujo (Miami Marlins) were considered the frontrunners, while Ha Sung Kim (Atlanta Braves) was considered a challenger to Semien and Araujo, along with Ozzie Albies (Atlanta Braves).”Kim has been San Diego’s most valuable player this season with a FanGraphs.com wins above replacement (fWAR) of 4.4, a .275 batting average, a .365 on-base percentage, a .429 slugging percentage and 17 home runs,” said MLB.com. “He doesn’t make a lot of contact, but he doesn’t swing at bad pitches. He’s already stolen 31 bases, and he’s also played solid defense, posting a +10 Defensive Run Save (DRS), a measure of how well a player’s defense prevents runs from scoring when playing second base.”Ketel Marte (Arizona Diamondbacks), Glavier Torres (New York Yankees), Bryson Stott (Philadelphia Phillies), and Nico Horner (Chicago Cubs) were named “repeaters.MLB has been honoring the season-ending All-MLB team since 2019.Nominations are opened in November after the season ends, and winners are selected based on a combination of 50 percent expert voting and 50 percent fan voting.The top vote-getters at each position (five starting pitchers, two relievers, three outfielders, and one infielder per position) are named to the First Team, and the runners-up are named to the Second Team.Left-handed pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu (Toronto Blue Jays) was named to the Second Team in 2019, when he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and in 2020, his first year in Toronto.If Kim breaks through the competition and finishes in the top two of the second-base voting, he will become the first Korean-American to be honored with a 스포츠토토존 spot on the All-MLB team.
