NC Dinos slugger Eric Thames wins MVP in Korean baseball

NC Dinos slugger Eric Thames wins MVP in Korean baseball. November. 25, 2015 08:45. creating@donga.com.

Eric Thames (29), currently with the NC Dinosaurs in the Korean pro baseball, had made the list of candidates in the 2010 season for winner of the player of the year award, which is presented to Double A players of the U.S. Major League baseball. Many of his colleagues and officials had said Thames would receive the honor and he also believed so. But he had to concede the prize to his teammate.

Recalling memories of the time, Thames said, “I had sleepless night for days because I was so nervous.” However, unlike five years ago, he has become the winner of a prize this time around.

Thames has been named the MVP of the 2015 regular season, and received a car worth about 37 million won (32,000 U.S. dollars) at the 2015 Tire Bank KBO award ceremony, which took place on Tuesday. It is the third time that an expat player clinched the MVP award of the regular season after Tyrone Woods (OB Bears) in 1998 and Daniel Rios (Doosan Bears) in 2007.

Thames posted 47 homers and 40 steals this season, becoming the first player to join the "40 (homers) – 40 (steals) club" in the Korean pro baseball. “Obviously, I have received the MVP because I achieved the 40-40 club,” he said. "I was tired and had tough time in October, but I was able to recover as I set the record.”

With a batting average of 0.381, a slugging rate of 0.790, an on-base percentage of 0.497, and 130 runs, Thames has won four categories of batting this season, to pocket 12 million won (10,400 dollars) in prize money.

In a vote by pro baseball correspondents, Thames received 50 of the 99 valid votes, and beat Park Byung-ho (29, Nexen) who acquired 44 votes. If he garnered one vote less, he would not have won the majority vote, and thus a final vote would have taken place. Yang Hyun-jong (27, Kia Tigers) who also made the list of candidates received five votes, while Eric Hacker (32, NC) acquired no vote. “I am satisfied because I received more votes than I expected. Before the result was announced, I told Thames that ‘you will most likely win.’ I think I had a truly exciting competition with Thames this year,” Park Byung-ho said while presenting a flower crown to Thames at the winner’s podium.

Thames has set an even higher goal for next year. “I want to receive the MVP again next year," he said. "I achieved all, which I aimed at: 30 homers last year and 40 homers this year. I will work harder to achieve the goal of 50 homers next year.”