Doosan Bears starter Gwak Been, who led the Korean baseball league in ERA and strikeouts this year, was named the recipient of the country's top pitching award Monday. Gwak was chosen as the winner of the 2026 Choi Dong-won Award. Named after the late former pitcher in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), the award has been recognizing the top hurler in the KBO since 2014. The award selection committee said Gwak received first-place votes from six of its seven members. Gwak went 11-7 in 27 starts, covering 161 innings, and topped the KBO with a 2.24 ERA and 197 strikeouts. He was the only starter this season to post an ERA of under 3.00. Gwak also pitched Korea to the gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in September, allowing just one run in 12 1/3 innings and striking out 19 in his two starts, including one against Japan in the gold medal game. Candidates for the award must meet the following criteria: at least 25 starts, 180 innings pitched, 12 wins, 150 strikeouts, 15 quality starts, a sub-3.00 ERA and 35 saves for relievers. Although Gwak fell short of thresholds in the wins a