While first-round picks like Kim Seo-hyun of the Hanwha Eagles, Yoon Young-chul of the KIA Tigers and Kim Min-seok of the Lotte Giants are garnering fan attention in the KBO, KT Wiz’s first-round rookie is also making his way from the second team to the first team.
The left-hander entered the game in the top of the seventh inning against the KIA Tigers in Iksan on March 23 and pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings with one hit, one walk and three strikeouts.
Trailing 1-5 with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, Kim came on after second baseman Kim Min-soo and struck out Kia’s No. 5 Choi Jung-yong on a full count.
In the top of the eighth, he struck out Yoon Do-hyun in the sixth and walked Han Jun-soo, but when he faced Choi Soo-bin in the eighth, he got Kim Dowol to steal second base and then struck out Choi Soo-bin as well. Kim, who threw 24 pitches on the day, threw mostly fastballs (13) and changeups (9) that topped out at 144 mph, with one slider and one curveball each.
Kim was selected by KT with the 10th pick in the first round of the 2023 Korean Baseball Organization draft. Signed for $220 million as a fastball prospect with a fastball that can reach up to 147 kilometers, Kim drew attention at Arizona’s first team camp, where he was coached by Lee Kang-cheol, a former side-arm pitcher. However, he suffered an elbow inflammation at the end of the camp and was unable to pitch in the exhibition games due to treatment and rehabilitation.
He was hit a lot in his early Futures League appearances. On April 19 against the Goyang Heroes, he gave up three runs on two hits and one walk in ⅔ of an inning; against Lotte, he gave up two runs on two hits and two walks without recording an out; and against Samsung on April 28, he gave up four runs on one hit and three walks in ⅔ of an inning. His pitches were not catching well.
In May, he found his groove. After his first no-hitter with one inning of scoreless relief, Kim pitched one inning of two-hit relief against Hanwha on the 13th, and a week later against LG on the 20th, he gave up one run on three hits, one walk, and one strikeout in 1⅓ innings.
Three days later, on the 23rd, he pitched 1⅓ innings, giving up one hit but no walks. He is gradually reducing the interval between appearances and improving his condition. It’s looking increasingly likely that we’ll see KT’s first-round pick pitch in the first team 메이저사이트.