The 6th-year military right-hander’s goal is rookie king

“I’m even happier to get my first win in front of my mom.”

Kim In-beom of the Kiwoom Heroes has finally gotten his first win despite pitching well. Kim pitched five innings of two-hit, three-walk, one-strikeout ball in a 5-0 victory over the LG Twins in Jamsil on Thursday.

It was the first win for Kim, who had been pitching well but hadn’t gotten the win. Kim In-beom, who joined Nexen with the 34th overall pick in the second round of the 2019 KBO Draft after graduating from Jeonju University, pitched in only three games in 2021. After being discharged from the military in November last year, he has been active in the first team since this season. He was initially used in the bullpen, but soon transitioned to the starting rotation and performed well.

He didn’t get the win, but he was congratulated by his fellow pitchers for his first win against LG, which had won five straight games.

Kim In-beom’s pitching was too steady until the fifth inning. In the top of the first, he got Park Hae-min to ground out to second base, then gave up a double to Moon Sung-joo, but got Kim Hyun-soo to pop out to third base to end the inning. In the bottom of the second, Austin led off with a single to left, but Kim Bum-seok, No. 5, flied out to left field, and after Austin stole second, Hong Chang-ki flied out to left field for the third out.

In the bottom of the third, he gave up a walk to No. 8 Oh Hwan, but got No. 9 Shin Min-jae to fly out to right field and Park Hae-min to ground out to first base. In the bottom of the fourth, he gave up a walk to No. 1 Kim Hyun-soo, but got No. 4 Austin to fly out to first base and Kim Bum-seok to fly out to third base.

In the top of the fifth inning, he almost got himself into trouble when he gave up a leadoff walk to Hong Chang-ki, but he retired Moon Bo-kyung, Oh Ji-hwan, and Shin Min-jae in order. Despite putting a runner on base in each inning, no one reached second base and the fifth inning ended without a crisis.

I had 74 pitches by the 5th inning. He could have thrown more, but he ended it while it was good. With a 2-0 lead, Kim turned to the bullpen in the sixth inning and they 메이저사이트 held LG scoreless. The Kiwoom bats came through and scored another run, eventually winning 5-0.

After being happily doused with water by his fellow pitchers, Kim In-bum began his post-game interview with the media and said, “I think this is the happiest day of my life. “I think it’s the happiest day of my life,” he said, adding, “I always trusted my brothers, and I think that’s why I had good results.” “Today, I had a good feeling every time I threw a pitch,” he smiled, “and I think that led to a good result.

When asked if he didn’t want to pitch in the sixth inning, Kim said, “I wanted to pitch, but my coach said it’s better to finish while the going is good, so let’s finish here.”

Kim doesn’t have much fastball velocity. On this day, his fastball only topped out at 140 mph, but he still threw 43 of his 74 pitches for strikes, nearly 60 percent. He threw 19 sliders, six forkballs, four two-seamers, and two curves in the mix. Despite this, LG hitters were unable to capitalize on Kim’s pitches.

His velocity was already higher than it should have been. “My average velocity was in the low to mid 140s, but I had surgery to remove bone chips from my elbow in October last year, and my velocity has dropped a bit since then,” Kim said.

When asked why he was able to continue pitching well despite not having a fastball, Kim said, “I’m throwing with a lot of control,” and added, “My catcher brothers told me that my fastball has a lot of movement, so it’s hard for hitters to hit it.” Kim shared the secret of his fastball.

Another secret is confidence. “I remember in the past, I used to avoid pitches that didn’t work. “I always had bad results,” he said, “but if I trusted my pitches and just put them in the center, the results were good, so now I’m trying to get quick wins.

I’m in my sixth year, but I still want to be Rookie of the Year. He only pitched 5⅓ innings last year, so he is still eligible for the rookie championship. “My first goal is to win the Rookie of the Year, and I want to be helpful to the team,” he said confidently, “10 wins would be a great result for me, so I’m thinking about that.

After the interview, Kim shared one more thing with the press through his PR team. “My parents come to the stadium sometimes. Today, my mom came by herself, and I’m even happier that I got my first win,” he said.