“(Na) Jong-deok or Gyun-an will use the donation to replace equipment and use it for the players’ meals.”

Shinwol Middle School in Changwon, his alma mater, is excited when Na Kyun-an, the “new ace” of the pro baseball Lotte Giants, was named the MVP for the first time in his career.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) secretariat recently announced that “Lotte’s Kyun-an Na has been selected as the monthly MVP for the month of April with the most outstanding performance in the league.” Na Kyun-an, who was selected as the MVP in April, will receive a prize money of 2 million won, and a donation of 2 million won will also be delivered to Changwon Shinwol Middle School, which is his middle school.

When this news was delivered, the baseball team of the middle school responded that a double celebration broke out with the confirmation of the Gyeongnam representative for the youth sports competition last month.

Coach Shin Woljung Kim Byeong-joo, head coach of Kyun-an Na when he was in middle school, said, “Baseball players and school officials heard about Kyun-an’s MVP.” The eyes are shining brightly,” he said.

Coach Kim remembered that Na Kyun-an was a ‘terrible practice bug’ since middle school. He said, “I trained for the baseball team for about four hours from 4:00 pm after school classes ended, but Kyun-an used to practice batting alone until midnight.”

According to middle school baseball team officials, Na Kyun-an has been a catcher and pitcher since middle school facilities. As a catcher, it is said that his stealing rate and throws have already exceeded the level of his peers. He had a lot of appearances as a pitcher after injuring his Achilles tendon in his third year of middle school, and he also had the experience of completing a national championship as a starter.

Former Shinwol Middle School coach Kim Cheong-soo, who coached Na Gyun-an, said, “This guy was a bit chubby in middle school, but he ran on the playground wearing padding even in midsummer to lose weight to play baseball well.” was thorough,” he emphasized.

Na Kyun-ahn was nicknamed ‘Ratatouille’ among his friends. This is because ‘Remy’, the main character of the movie Ratatouille, and Na Gyun-an looked similar when they laughed. Park Seong-ha (25), who worked out with Na Kyun-an in the middle school baseball team, said, “Kyun-an always laughed well and was kind-hearted. When my friends were having a hard time, they gave me good counseling, so even now, when I get together with my friends, I watch Gyun-an’s game together and cheer for him,” he said, laughing.메이저사이트

Na Kyun-an, who wore a Lotte uniform with the 3rd overall pick in the 2nd round of the 2nd round in 2017, was expected as a large catcher prospect at the time of his debut, but his skills were not up to par. However, he changed his name (before renaming Na Jong-deok) and turned into a pitcher, showing potential with an average ERA of 3.29 in the Futures League in 2020, and established himself as an “all-weather” pitcher last year by going back and forth between starting and bullpen in the first team. During the month of April this season, he started 5 games and showed off his league-leading skills with 4 wins and an undefeated ERA of 1.34.