The Korean baseball league on Thursday unveiled finalists for its inaugural award recognizing excellence in defense. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will hand out the KBO Field Award for nine positions: pitcher, catcher, first base, second base, third base, shortstop, left field, center field and right field. The manager, nine coaches and the general manager from each of the 10 clubs will cast their votes for the next seven days, starting Thursday, and they may not vote for players on their own teams. The fielding index developed by the KBO and its official statistics provider, Sports 2i, will be used as a reference. The official fielding score, which accounts for fielding percentage and range factor, will be used for all nine positions.

For pitchers, fielding bunts and pickoff throws will be considered, while blocking and caught stealing percentage for catchers will come into the equation. Votes by managers and coaches will comprise 75 percent of the selection total, and the fielding stats will count for the remaining 25 percent .To become finalists, pitchers must have thrown at least 48 innings and catchers must have appeared in at least 72 games. Infielders and outfielders must have played in at least 720 innings at their respective positions. Under these criteria, 108 pitchers, 14 catchers, four first basemen, 10 second basemen, nine third basemen, nine shortstops, five left fielders, nine center fielders and seven right fielders will be up for the award. The award ceremony is scheduled for late November. Winner will each receive 슬롯게이밍 a trophy and 2 million won ($1,470).