With his recent explosive hitting, Ha-Sung Kim (San Diego Padres) is starting to be mentioned as a possible candidate for the 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) Most Valuable Player (MVP) award While his chances of winning the award are slim given his overall performance, the mere mention is significant On Monday, MLB.com released the results of its mock MLB MVP voting for the 2023 season, which included 48 expertsThe voters ranked players from the American League (AL) and National League (NL) from first to fifth First place is worth five points, second place is worth four points, third place is worth three points, fourth place is worth two points, and fifth place is worth one point First place in the National League went to Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, who received 45 first-place votes Second place went to Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers with three first-place votes, 스포츠토토링크 and third place went to Mookie Betts of the DodgersMLB.com also mentioned Ha-Sung Kim as one of the mock ballot winners in the fifth spot He was up against some of the best players in the league, including Cody Bellinger (Chicago Cubs), Dansby Swanson (Cubs), and Nolan Hernandez (St. Louis Cardinals)We don’t know how many votes Kim received. But the fact that he was considered by experts to be a “top-five” performer in the NL this season is significant Through eight games, Ha Sung Kim is batting .287 with 15 home runs, 41 RBIs, and 24 stolen bases. His defence is also among the best in the league, making him a key player His 5.6 wins above replacement (WAR), as measured by Baseball-Reference.com, is tied for first in the NL with Acuña JrIf Kim receives votes in the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) regular-season MVP voting, he will become the third South Korean to win the award Only two other South Korean players have ever won the MVP award, Shin-Soo Choo (now with the SSG Rangers) and Ryu Hyun-jin (Toronto Blue Jays)Shin-Soo Choo received nine points (one sixth-place vote, one ninth-place vote, and two 10th-place votes) in AL MVP voting in 2010 while playing for the Cleveland Indians, and 23 points (one sixth-place vote, one seventh-place vote, one eighth-place vote, four ninth-place votes, and three 10th-place votes) in NL MVP voting in 2013 with the Cincinnati Reds, finishing 12th Ryu finished 19th in the NL with three points on one eighth-place vote in 2019 Meanwhile, the top vote-getter in the MLB.com AL Mock Poll was two-hitting “superstar” Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels), who received the top vote from all 48 experts.