“I hated being called a second-year jinx…”
NC Dinos’ Kim Si-hoon, 25, prepared for last year’s season more than anyone else. He joined the team as a first-round pick in 2018, but was quickly forgotten by everyone due to injuries and military service. However, he made his first team debut in 2022 and quickly worked his way to the center of the pitching staff. In 2022, he split time between the starting rotation and the bullpen, going 4-5 with a 3.24 ERA in 59 games and 83⅓ innings pitched. Expectations were high after his thrilling first-team debut in his fifth year.
The club realized that he would be more effective as a reliever than a starter. Tracking data showed that his velocity dropped off around the 40-pitch mark and he became a reliever in the middle of the 2022 season. The same happened in 2023.
However, at the end of the season, neither Kim nor the club were satisfied with the year. In 2023, he finished with a 4-3 record in 61 games, 52⅔ innings, three saves, 12 holds, 토토사이트 and a 4.44 ERA. For a first-year full-time reliever, that’s a decent performance.
However, as the season progressed, Kim left something to be desired.
By July, his ERA was 3.74 in 39 games. He struck out 10.43 batters per nine innings. However, from August to the end of the regular season, his ERA dropped to 5.68. His strikeouts per nine innings plummeted by more than half to 4.74. He walked more batters, 6.63 per nine innings. The decline in command began in May and accelerated in August. Kim was ultimately cut from NC’s fall baseball roster.
2023 was unfair. Kim had every right to feel that way. An uneven sophomore season. He prepared well to avoid the “second-year jinx. “I thought, ‘Why should the second-year jinx come to me? I hated being called a second-year jinx, so I prepared harder than everyone else. I didn’t think I had a place, and I competed equally.” “During the (2023) camp, I was so unhappy that I lived in a power analysis type room. I prepared harder than anyone else. It was unfair. But I think it wasn’t all about the preparation,” he reflected.
It was a year in which he felt the difference in his pitches. “I threw the most pitches in my career in 2022,” he said, explaining that “when my pitches were good, hitters weren’t hitting them well, but when my pitches dropped, they were hitting them, and my confidence dropped, but I wasn’t ready for it.” He blamed himself, though it didn’t seem to affect him in 2022.
Now, Kim has forgotten about his role as a reliever and is preparing to be a starter again.
After last year’s season ended, manager Kang In-hwa and pitching coach Kim Soo-kyung expressed their thoughts on Kim’s transition to the starting rotation, and they’re putting them into action. Currently, Kim is competing with Kim Young-kyu, Kim Jae-yeol, Shin Young-woo, Choi Sung-young, Lee Jae-hak, and Song Myung-ki for the starting job in Tucson, Arizona.
Among them, Kim Si-hoon has been picking up the pace faster than anyone else and is eager to secure the starting pitching job. NC has completed his third training turn. According to the club, as of February 10 (KST), Kim completed his fourth bullpen pitching session and has already increased his pitch count to 81. His pitching intensity has increased to about 90 percent. Left-hander Kim Young-kyu, who is also preparing to make the transition to starting, has 70 pitches and is at 80-90%. Kim Si-hoon has the fastest velocity among the NC pitching staff.
Pitching coach Kim Soo-kyung said, 안전한 파워볼사이트 “The pitchers’ physical condition seems to have improved enough. So far, they have been in the stage of improving their physical condition, but afterward, the pitching schedule will be gradually implemented to enter the real game. So far, they’ve been pitching according to their assigned roles,” he said of the pitching staff’s pace.
“I don’t want to show the same performance as last year again. You gave me a chance, so now I have to show it,” said Kim, who is entering 2024 with the determination to perform. Can Kim regain the form that made him a sensation as the No. 1 pitcher in 2022?