Kim Ki-hoon (KIA)’s Gwangju Dongseong High School days were truly ‘Shigeno Goro (a major character in comics)’.
It was because he led the team to win the Blue Dragon Championship based on his qualities as a left-handed pitcher and his skill with a high-quality bat. In particular, he stood out by being selected twice for the youth national team토토사이트giving the impression of being strong in big matches. In the 2018 Asian Youth Championship, he threw a perfect pitch against the Japanese youth team, which was said to be so strong, and received even greater attention from locals such as Asahi TV.
The key to the 2023 KIA mound
is held by ‘Little Yang Hyeon-jong’ Kim Ki-hoon.
There was only one reason why I paid attention to Kim Ki-hoon’s performance at the time. It was because he showed a performance that exceeded that of his alumni senior Yang Hyeon-jong during his time at Dongseong High School. Yang Hyeon-jong was also evaluated as a ‘top-class left-hander’ from his high school days, but he failed to lead the team to the championship, and Kim Ki-hoon showed off his skills at bat. That’s why he was counted as a promising player who can lead ‘immediately’ in the first team stage.
However, as Kim Ki-hoon unexpectedly struggled on the stage of the first team, which was higher than expected, the nickname ‘Little Yang Hyeon-jong’ had to be colorless. So, the place he chose was Sangmu. He had no choice but to plan for his later days while serving in the military. Fortunately, his performance at Sangmu was quite good, raising expectations for the coming season again.
After being discharged, he briefly appeared on the stage of the first team last season, but it is still too early to evaluate Kim Ki-hoon due to the small number of samples. However, it is difficult to take lightly the part where he recorded 7 walks, 9 strikeouts, and an earned run average of 1.04 in 8 2/3 innings. Accordingly, coach Kim Jong-guk, along with him as a candidate for the 5th starting lineup, is taking the direction of giving young players a chance.
That Kim Ki-hoon is scheduled to start as a starting pitcher in the evaluation match against the WBC national team. It will be interesting to see how he will perform against the national team and whether he will be selected for the senior national team following the U-18 national team in the future.The key to the 2023 KIA mound is held by Kim Ki-hoon.