KIA Tigers’ Kim Do-hyun (24) has raised the possibility of joining the Korean Series entry with his life pitching.
Kim Do-hyun led KIA to a 7-1 victory with three hits, two walks and seven strikeouts in seven innings at the home game of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Buk-gu, Gwangju on the 24th.
It was a perfect pitch. Samsung also excluded a large number of key hitters such as Koo Ja-wook, Kang Min-ho and Park Byung-ho, but overwhelmed its opponents by maintaining fastballs with speeds of up to 150 kilometers per hour and an average of 148 kilometers throughout the game.
As a result, he pitched a total of 89 pitches, including 42 fastballs, 25 curveballs, 10 sliders, 8 change-ups and 4 two-seam fastballs, to play the most innings in one game. It was the first quality start in 1,448 days (more than 6 innings and less than 3 earned runs) since the 6th inning against Gwangju KIA on October 7, 2020, when he was Hanwha, and the first quality start plus (more than 7 innings and less than 3 earned runs) in his career.
The combination of fastball and curveball was impressive. Kim Do-hyun showed his strength by shooting 148 kilometers per hour three times even in the seventh inning, the last inning. Samsung hitters were helpless against the falling curve regardless of the right and left hitters. “Kim Do-hyun completely blocked seven innings with his aggressive pitching throughout the game. Both control and ball power were powerful. He is improving more and more as he takes the mound,” coach Lee Bum-ho said after the game.
“I was disappointed (for not being able to take the mound in the eighth inning), but it was my first seven innings as a professional player anyway. While talking a lot with catcher (Han) Seung-taek, I threw the ball in trust of the fielders. I received a lot of help, and I think I solved what I could and came up with good pitching,” Kim Do-hyun told reporters after the game.
In fact, Kim was more familiar with the name “Kim Yi-hwan” when he was with the Hanwha Eagles until this season. After graduating from Gilwon Elementary School (Dongdaemun Goolittle), Jamshin Middle School, and Shinil High School, Kim joined Hanwha in the 33rd place in the second round of the 2019 KBO Rookie Draft. He did not see much success in the Hanwha Eagles. His performance has been getting worse and his ERA soared to 7.62 in 14 games in 2021. The problem was his ball control, which he rarely caught.
Considering Kim’s completeness and growth potential, however, Kia gave him right-hander Lee Min-woo (31) and outfielder Lee Jin-young (27) in a one-on-two trade. In his first season at Kia, he was an ordinary player with an ERA of 7.59, in five games. As a result, he resolved military service issues by joining the active duty during the 2022 season, and only joined the team on Feb. 24 this year.
As such, he was not classified as an important player for this year. However, he displayed remarkable adaptability and skill improvement despite two years of absence at actual games, and even gained an opportunity to start due to line injuries of first-team pitchers. After displaying good pitching several times as a starter, he has rapidly emerged as a candidate for the fourth starting pitcher of the Korean Series.
“My ball speed has increased a lot (compared to the Hanwha Eagles era). I got better at breaking balls and I became more desperate about baseball after I was discharged from the military,” Kim said. “In society, I only played baseball, but not in the military, so I thought about baseball more,” he said. “The year 2024 was a very meaningful season for me. I am very satisfied that I can go all the way to autumn baseball after being discharged from the military.” 메이저놀이터
This year, Kia faced a crisis in which only five foreign pitchers were hired as starting pitchers including Will Crow, Lee Eui-ri, Yoon Young-cheol and James Nail were injured one after another. Manager Lee Bum-ho picked Kim Do-hyun and Hwang Dong-ha as players who helped the team overcome the crisis and become No. 1 in the regular season. After working hard for the team, he also tasted the joy of winning the first place in six years since his debut as a pro.
When asked how much he contributed to KIA’s regular 1st place, Kim Do-hyun said, “I think it’s about 10-20 points out of 100 points. I started the season as a bullpen pitcher and wanted to contribute to the team, but I’m just grateful if you thought ‘the manager played an important role,'” he said. “I won the regular season for the first time, and I think I can only express that I’m good.” “I also jokingly said, ‘We’re trying to win,’ and said, ‘Let’s get into the Korean Series entry.”
Asked how he would feel if he starts Game 4 of the Korean Series, he said, “I’m so happy just thinking about it. It hasn’t been decided yet, but I’m going to prepare well for any position. I really want to join the Korean Series.”