Kim Sung-min, 30, of the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), continued his incredible first half in the second half.
Kim pitched one inning of scoreless relief against the Hanwha Eagles in the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on March 9, striking out one and walking none.
Kim, who has a 14-8 record with 32 saves and a 4.17 ERA in 232 career KBO games (295⅓ innings), began to emerge as a key bullpen arm for Kiwoom last season with a 2-3 record with 11 saves and a 3.28 ERA in 47 games (46⅔ innings). This season, he is having his best season yet, going 3-1 with a 1.64 ERA in 31 games (33 innings) with 10 saves.
He leads the league in ERA among pitchers with at least 25 innings pitched.
“I’m most happy to contribute to the team’s victory today,” Kim said in a postgame interview, “and I think it’s best for the team to win. I think the team is in a good mood. The season isn’t over yet, so we’re talking a lot about let’s do it together,” he said after the victory.
Kim Sung-min, who finished the first half with a dominant performance, said, “I did what I thought and the result was good, and (Kim) Jae-hyun did a good job of keeping the lead. We talked a lot about how I can pitch well now after a two-year hiatus. 해외 카지노 사이트 The manager believed in me and the batters did a great job, so I don’t think I did a good job, but I think it was because of the help of my teammates,” he said, passing the ball to his teammates.
Kim Sung-min, who began to realize his full potential last year, said, “I think performance has always been a different area for me. I try not to show any embarrassment as a pitcher. If I was in another team, I might be a young player, but in our team, there are many pitchers younger than me and I have to lead as a senior. But if I look too bad on the mound, it’s going to reflect badly on the younger guys, so I want to come off the mound as good as I can,” he said.
“I know too well that I’m not a pitcher who can strike out people with my fastball,” said Kim, “so I try to pitch as aggressively as I can to get the team going. If I give up a lot of walks, it makes the game loose and makes it hard for the hitters. I’m trying to be as aggressive as possible,” he said. “It’s because I’m not popular yet,” he said about not being named an All-Star despite his stellar first half. If I do well later, they will select me,” he laughed.
Kim Sung-min’s performance this season is reminiscent of Oh Joo-won in 2019.
Oh, who is now the pitching coach for the Kiwoom Residents, was a dominant closer in 2019, going 3-3 with a 2.32 ERA in 57 games (54⅓ innings) with three wins, three losses, three holds and 18 saves. Kim and Oh have something in common in that they are both left-handed pitchers who don’t have fastballs but are aggressive with hitters.
“Coach Oh didn’t play a lot of games in the second team, but he gave me a lot of advice when I was a player and even after he became a coach,” said Kim, “so I think I was directly influenced by him. We talked a lot. He gave me a lot of advice on the mental part and how to deal with hitters. He said that sometimes you need to be strong and sometimes you need to be sophisticated,” Kim recalled Oh’s advice.
After starting the second half on a high note with a winning pitch, Oh said, “Holds are not only about what I do well, but also about the situation. I’m grateful that the coach believes in me, and I try to pitch my best in winning and losing situations. My goal this year is to stay injury-free and adapt well so that I can show a good performance next year. For now, my goal is to do my best every day,” he concluded.