Hanwha’s foreign-born outfielder Jonathan Peraza struck out swinging in the top of the fourth inning against KIA at Daejeon Hwasung Life Park on Monday. With a 2B-2S count, he swung at a five-pitch changeup and missed.
As Peraza left the batter’s box after the swing, he gave a thumbs-up to a pitcher standing on the mound before retreating to the dugout. Of course, there’s respect for the opponent, but it also shows that the pitcher genuinely liked the changeup because it was connected immediately after the swing. The pitcher on the mound was Kim Do-hyun (24). Maybe ten days ago, no one would have guessed that Kim would be on the mound at this point.
After being traded from Hanwha to KIA in 2022, Kim Do-hyun served in the military and was discharged from the army ahead of this season. We didn’t have high expectations for him, as he didn’t even go through camp with us. He was looking at next year rather than this year, the second half rather than the first half. However, Kim, who worked hard during his military service, was able to become a full-fledged pitcher sooner than expected and warmed up by playing in various positions.
He had a lot more restraint than before he enlisted. His fastball became surprisingly fast, which is difficult to do in a systematic way because he was on active duty. His fastball, which was in the low-to-mid 140 kilometers per hour, has been upgraded to a fireballer’s class that exceeds 150 kilometers per hour. Kia manager Lee Bum-ho wanted Kim to be more ambitious, saying that he was a player who could play in a better position, not just in the top of the order. But then Yoon Young-chul’s back injury came along, and Kia gave Kim a chance and put him on trial.
Initially, the team planned to use Kim Gun-guk as a backup starter if Yoon’s injury was short-lived, but with Yoon out for at least a month, the team decided to look to the future and give Kim Do-hyun the start. He’s a right-handed fireballer that Kia doesn’t have, so he could even compete for the rotation next year. Despite the suddenness of the start, Kim gave the team hope with a solid first outing.
Kim threw 68 pitches in five innings of work against Hanwha in Daejeon on April 19, allowing just one run (unearned) on two hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Kim’s last 메이저사이트 start came on October 7, 2020, against the Gwangju KIA, a whopping 1380 days after his last start. On that day, Kim threw 24 pitches with a top velocity of 153 kilometers and an average of 151 kilometers, as well as a mix of fastballs (5), curveballs (14), sliders (15), and changeups (10) to keep the Hanwha batters at bay.
Originally scheduled to throw 60-70 pitches, Kim was efficient enough to last five innings and earn the win. Of course, he wasn’t quite built up to be a starter yet, and his velocity tended to drop a bit in the fourth and fifth innings, but he was still able to get through five innings without giving up a walk and stay aggressive. It was a big game for Kia, not only in terms of getting a win, but also in terms of seeing the potential of Kim Do-hyun.
After the game, Kim was asked if he saw Peraza’s “chopper,” and he said, “I didn’t see it, I heard he did, but I’ll have to go home and watch it again,” before smiling and saying, “I don’t really remember that at-bat. That seemed to indicate that he focused everything on every single ball. “I keep throwing against my own team, but I feel like I’m still getting good results, which is good for me. I tried to pitch the same way even if it was my home team, and I didn’t think about pitching better, I just thought about getting through one inning, one inning,” Kim reflected.
“If I was in the second team and they told me I was going to start, I think I would have been a little bit nervous. But I was in the first team and had time to adjust to the game, so I wasn’t too nervous. “I wasn’t thinking about throwing a long innings of 60, I was just focusing on one batter, one batter, and it worked out well,” he said.
Kia manager Lee Beom-ho also commented after the game, “Kim Do-hyun made his first start in a long time, and he pitched better than expected. Our original plan was to throw 60 pitches, but he seemed to have a little more, so we left him until the fifth inning. We expected the pitching staff to be tight today because we used a lot of bullpen pitchers yesterday, but Do-hyun relieved a lot of pressure on the bullpen.” ‘Congratulations to Do-hyun for getting the win, and I hope he will play a good role in the starting rotation in the future,’ he said.
When asked about the bullpen and starting, Kim Do-hyun said, “I think I’m more of a starter than a bullpen. I wanted to try starting, and I wanted to try the bullpen, but now that the manager has given me the opportunity, I think I’m thinking more about starting.”
Perhaps the competition for next year’s starting rotation has begun, and Kim has entered the fray. With Lee Lee having elbow surgery and not expected to return until midseason, Kim has the unique distinction of being a right-handed fastball starter, a type of pitcher that KIA rarely has. It’s time to play to his strengths. “The manager gave me a good opportunity. I think I have to prepare well and somehow get a spot,” he said. ”They are all good players, but I have to compete here as well. I’m going to try my best to earn a spot,” he said.