He throws a fastball that can reach speeds of up to 160 mph. But no team is afraid of a pitcher who can’t throw strikes. That’s how Kim Seo-hyun (19-Hanwha Eagles) ended his professional debut.먹튀검증
Kim was pulled from his start against the NC Dinos at NC Park in Changwon on April 18 after throwing 44 pitches in two innings, giving up three runs on three hits and four walks while striking out one.
The team’s bats exploded to erase the deficit, but the loss came in extra innings, and another trip to the Futures (2nd team) became a possibility.
Disappointing first half→Seohyun’s start in the second team, not enough yet
Kim Seo-hyun, who was drafted by Hanwha as the No. 1 overall pick with a fiery fastball, was highly anticipated before the season. He was expected to be the core of Hanwha’s bullpen with his desire to close games.
However, in his first 18 games out of the bullpen, he went winless with one save and a 5.60 ERA.
Kim received starting lessons in the second team. The idea was to throw more pitches and experience different situations. After five starts and a 2-1 record with a 4.43 ERA, Choi Won-ho wanted to test her in the first team.
After returning to the first team on the 10th, Kim made his first appearance out of the bullpen on the 11th, but gave up four runs on three hits and eight walks in 2⅔ innings. “It was bad,” said Choi Won-ho, “but we need to see him pitch with proper preparation as a starter. I told him to improve the problems and prepare well for his next start so that the same thing doesn’t happen again.”
However, he didn’t look much different in the NC game on the 17th. He relied heavily on his fastball and curveball, but still struggled to find his command. He got the first two outs in the first inning and gave up back-to-back singles to Park Geon-woo and Jason Martin, but struck out Kwon Hee-dong to put out the fire.
The second inning was the problem. He couldn’t get his pitches down. He gave up back-to-back singles to Oh Young-soo and Do Tae-hoon on five pitches. After Ahn Jung-yeol’s sacrifice bunt, he gave up a five-pitch walk to Kim Joo-won to load the bases with one out. He then gave up a single to Son Asub to score one run and a grounder to the first baseman by Park Min-woo to score two more.
He then gave up a straight grounder to Park Gun-woo, but got Martin to ground out to first base to end the inning.
Choi Won-ho was resolute. He didn’t throw many pitches, but he handed the ball to Han Seung-ju in the third inning. It could be interpreted as the end of the test.
The pitchers themselves were disappointed… Moon Dong-joo, a year her senior, had an answer
After the game, Kim Seo-hyun posted a photo of herself on social media, saying, “Please do a good job, my self,” and foreshadowing her second-team status, “I just need to come up once more before the season ends.”
In the end, it was the pitches. It’s one thing to be hit hard by a monotonous pitch, but Kim Seo-hyun was different. When her pitches were working, they were powerful enough, but she couldn’t keep them in the zone. His strike rate was just 45.5% (20/44) on the day. His fastball topped out at 153 mph, but he was unable to capitalize on its power. He threw mostly two-seam fastballs (20 pitches) and four-seam fastballs (14 pitches), mixing in curves (8 pitches) and sliders (2 pitches).
Manager Choi Won-ho, who watched Kim pitch on the 11th, said, “When things don’t go their way, the young guys don’t have good control,” adding, “Just yesterday, he was trying to throw hard. That’s why his body opens up. It was the same in May when they were bad, but they only try to throw hard.
He added, “You have to gain experience. Just like (Moon) Dong-ju did,” he said. Moon, 20, joined the team last season and struggled with injuries and inconsistency, but with seven wins and a 3.28 ERA already this season, he has earned a spot on the national team and is considered the No. 1 rookie of the year.
He is one of the league’s leading fireballers, with a fastball clocked at 160 kilometers per hour in the KBO’s official record books this season, but he has also established himself as a player to watch this season.
Over the course of the season, Moon Dong-ju has made up for his deficiencies. “Nowadays, when I go out to play, speed seems to be the second issue, and how I fight with the batters is the most important thing,” he said after the victory over Doosan on April 12. “I don’t think there has been a huge change (from last year). I think I’m getting the hang of it as I go along.”
Trial and error. Looking back at last year, Kim Seo-hyun said, “I threw with the idea that I didn’t want to get hit,” but also said, “This year is different. I throw with the mindset that I can get hit.”
This mindset has made Moon a more aggressive pitcher. Of course, his fastball and changeup were more complete, but it was the hitters who became impatient with the fastball pitcher’s aggressiveness. It’s a lesson that Kim Seo-hyun, a similar type of pitcher, can learn from in order to grow quickly.