Ariel Miranda Chosen as Best Pitcher of the Year in the Korean Baseball League

November 18, 2021

Cuban Ariel Miranda was named for the Best Pitcher award given in the Korean Baseball League (KBO) this 2021.

Said prestigious award is named Choi Dong-won, in memory of the renowned South Korean pitcher and is the equivalent of the Cy Young Award of the MLB.

The left-hander closed out a golden campaign with the Doosan Bears, where he was the league's best pitcher without question. Miranda broke the historical strikeout record of Choi Dong-won himself by two, totaling 225 strikeouts. The record had stood since the distant 1984.

That number of strikeouts came along with the following numbers:

2.33 ERA (14-5) 225 K in 173.2 IP
31.7 K%
8.9 BB%
.209 oAVG
1.14 WHIP
0.57 HR/9

Note the strikeout percentage, Ariel struck out a batter for every three faced, it can almost be translated that way.

K% in 2021 in the KBO:

Ariel Miranda: 31.7
Andrew Suarez: 26.6
Wilmer Font: 26.0
Wesley Parsons: 25.6
Woo-jin An: 24.4

The difference is abysmal compared to second place, in fact the closest mark since this statistic has been recorded (2002), is 28.9% held by tulip Rick van den Hurk in 2014.

I have always seen the home run as the best moment a batter can achieve, in the case of the pitcher, I like to place importance on the strikeout, a statistic that has survived a long time and defines the action of total dominance of a pitcher over a hitter.

He sends him (the batter) to the dugout empty-handed, Ariel didn't give anyone a chance and at 32 years old he again puts the four letters of our country up high, the history of the KBO will treasure this season with the name of a Cuban.

Noteworthy is the work of another Cuban, Odrisamer Despaigne, who was the leader in innings pitched (188.2) with a respectable ERA of 3.39.

Before closing, some Quick Facts about the Award:

It has been awarded since 2014.
In 2018 the award opens to foreign players in the league and Josh Lindblom wins it in two consecutive seasons, currently with the Brewers.
Players from the Doosan Bears have won the award in 6 of 8 occasions.
The Bears have won it in the last four seasons.
Miranda had the best Earned Run Average record among all award winners, as well as the highest number of strikeouts.