KIA Tigers rookie Kim Tae-hyoung (19) has begun to show potential.
Kim Tae-hyoung took the mound as a relief pitcher in the game against the Hanwha Eagles on the 8th, pitching 2⅓ innings. He allowed 2 hits, 2 walks, and 1 hit by pitch, giving up 1 run, but he managed to record 7 outs and displayed the ability to handle multiple innings. He is being evaluated as throwing thoroughly promising pitches. This has led to expectations that he will be a strong asset on the first team mound in the future.
He took the mound in the bottom of the 5th inning with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 3rd, trailing 3-12. It was a concept of mop-up duty. He threw a 145 km/h fastball to the first batter, Roh Si-hwan, and gave up a timely hit to left field. However, he struck out the most dangerous batter, Chae Eun-seong, with a 147 km/h fastball on the fourth pitch. It was a fastball that felt powerful.
In the bottom of the 6th, Kim Tae-yean popped up to foul territory, Ha Ju-suk grounded out to second base, and Lee Jae-won used a slider to induce a ground ball to the shortstop, easily retiring the side. In the bottom of the 7th, he issued a walk to Sim Woo-jun and allowed a infield hit to Lee Won-seok but induced a double play with Rivera. He gave up a run due to a hit by pitch, a walk, and a wild pitch, and ended his outing by getting Lee Jin-young to ground out to third.
He threw 40 pitches (21 strikes). He mainly threw fastballs and sliders, occasionally mixing in curves. His maximum speed reached 147 km/h. The fastball definitely had impressive movement. Although his strike percentage was disappointing, he showed the ability to handle multiple innings as part of a chase group in the future. A natural speedup is also expected.
He is a promising player who was selected in the first round of the 2025 Rookie Draft. He graduated from Hwasun Elementary School and went to Seoul to study baseball, where he shone as the ace of Deoksu High School. It can be said that he returned home after being selected as the number one pick by his hometown team. He showcased impressive pitching at the Okinawa finishing camp and was mentioned as a candidate for the starting rotation.
He competed for the fifth starter spot in the spring camp but was eliminated early and began the season in the second team receiving training as a back-up starter. However, he appeared in 9 games, suffered 4 losses, and posted an unsatisfactory earned run average of 10.31. This was the reason for the delay in his call-up to the first team. He was called up on June 11, but debut opportunities were hard to come by. Lee Ho-min from the second round was called up four days later and made his debut first, even earning a save.
He calmly waited for his debut opportunity and made his successful debut appearance on June 24 against Kiwoom at Gocheok Dome, pitching in the 8th inning with his team trailing 6-9, recording 1 inning with 1 walk and no hits or runs. He followed this with another solid outing on July 6 against Lotte in Gwangju, pitching in the 9th inning with the team trailing 2-5, allowing 1 hit and no runs over 1 inning. Until the previous day, he was posting an earned run average of 2.08 over 3 games. Though he had a late start compared to first round rookies like Hanwha's Jeong Woo-joo, LG's Kim Young-woo, and Samsung's Bae Chan-seung, he has gradually begun to show his presence as a fresh wind.
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