I threw the most pitches in my life today (25th). I was thinking, “It’s hard.”
Kiwoom Heroes’ rookie Kim Yoon-ha (19) made a debut. This year, he became the first KBO rookie to achieve quality start plus (more than seven innings and less than three earned runs). He pitched 96. It was the day when he threw the most balls in his 19-year-old career, and as a result, he garnered his first win as a pro player.메이저사이트
Kim Yoon-ha started the 12th game of the season between the Doosan Bears and the team of the “2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League” at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on the 25th, and reported his first win as a perfect pitch with 96 pitches, two hits, three outs and four strikeouts in seven innings. Thanks to Kim Yoo-han’s pitch, which overwhelmed Doosan’s batters, Kiwoom escaped its second consecutive loss by winning 6-1.
Kim Yoon-ha achieved the most innings and pitches in a single individual game, and his first quality start plus (more than seven innings and less than three earned runs) since his debut. The previous highest number of innings and pitches in a single individual game was 78 pitches in five innings recorded against the Gocheok NC Dinos on the 25th of last month.
Kim Yun-ha used four pitching arsenals – fastball (59), curveball (23), splitter (8), and cutter (6) to cook Doosan’s batting lineup. His control of fastball could have been shaky, but the curve was powerful. His disadvantage was that he normally walks a lot, but 61 of his 96 pitches were strikes on the day. The maximum speed of his fastball was 148 kilometers and the average speed of his fastball was 144 kilometers.
After graduating from Jangchung High School, Kim joined the Kiwoom team as the ninth choice in the first round of the rookie draft in 2024. When he was nominated, he drew attention as the nephew of “Korean Express” Park Chan-ho. Park is a legendary player who played for 17 seasons in the U.S. Major League from 1994 to 2010, playing in 476 games (287 starts), 124 wins and 98 losses, 1993 innings, 1715 strikeouts, and 4.36 ERA. His nephew Kim Yun-ha is dreaming of becoming the best pitcher just like his uncle Park Chan-ho.
Kim was not intimidated at all even when he faced off the top hitters in the KBO League, including Heo Kyung-min, Yang Eui-ji and Yang Seok-hwan. Kim did not lose a single hit to them and tied them up tightly.
If the only crisis was in the first and second innings, it would have been a crisis. In the bottom of the first inning, leadoff hitter Jeong Su-bin had a right hit to right field, but caught the next batter Lee Yoo-chan with a fly ball to right field. At bat, catcher Kim Jae-hyun stopped Jeong Su-bin, who was stealing second base, helping ease the youngest’s burden. Kim Yoon-ha also walked Huh Kyung-min, but ended the inning by hitting Yang Eui-ji with a ground ball to shortstop.
Kim struggled due to walks in the bottom of the second inning as well. He allowed walks to leadoff hitter Yang Seok-hwan and Yang Chan-yeol with runners on first and second bases with two outs, putting him in danger of losing his first point. Kim turned Jeon Min-jae to fly to right field, and escaped the crisis of scoring for the first time.
Having endured two innings well, Kim was relentless. From Jeon Min-jae, with two outs and runners on the first and second bases in the bottom of the second inning, to Yang Chan-yeol, with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, Kim showed off his potential by swinging nine batters in a row. In the process, he showed off his potential by striking out Lee Yoo-chan in the third inning, Yang Seok-hwan in the fourth inning, and Park Joon-young in the fifth inning.
Kim Yoon-ha got a hit to left-center by Jeon Min-jae after two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, but ended the inning by catching the next batter, Jung Soo-bin, with a ground ball to the first base. At the bottom of the sixth inning, he also achieved a quality start by dealing with Lee Yoo-chan, Heo Kyung-min, and Yang Eui-ji as three outs.
The Kiwoom bench put Kim on the mound in the seventh inning as well. He managed the number of pitches he pitched, and decided that it would be an experience that Kim can take another step forward. Kim lived up to 200 percent of the bench’s expectations. He completed his first seven innings of pitching by grounding Yang Seok-hwan to the shortstop, striking out Kang Seung-ho and catching Park Joon-young to the shortstop. As the game was delayed for 82 minutes due to heavy rain during the ninth inning of Kiwoom’s attack, he enjoyed his first win a little later.
Regarding Kim’s achievement of quality start plus for the first time as a rookie this year, Kim Yoon-ha said, “I found out that I will take the mound in the seventh inning after the sixth inning. My coach told me to prepare for it. I didn’t have any greed for quality start plus. I think I was able to do it in a good mood because my seniors and brothers helped me well and my batters gave me good scores. I feel good.”
“I was physically burdened to lead long innings while always playing. From the previous game, I played with the goal of increasing my physical strength by throwing with all my strength from the beginning. Today, I’m satisfied that I threw well in the second half without losing my speed. I didn’t have a fastball in the beginning, but in the second half, both breaking balls and fast balls went in well, so I think the batters were confused and couldn’t hit it,” he added.
What did he think during the 82nd minute when the rain stopped? “I pitched seven innings for the first time rather than hoping it would end soon, and I was thinking ‘Oh, I’m tired’ because I threw the most innings today,” Kim said.
After an emotional first win, I remembered people I was grateful for. First of all, I mentioned Oh Joo-won, the second-tier pitching coach who helped me a lot in reorganizing the second-tier team. Kim Yoon-ha said, “I was supposed to just look at the center and throw it, but since I kept getting hits in the first division at the beginning, coach Oh Joo-won said, ‘It can be hard to throw it in the middle like that in the professional league.’ Since then, I’ve been practicing throwing to the borderline, but I think the result has improved a little bit.”
“I am most grateful to catcher (Kim) Jae-hyun, who teamed up with me first. I think this result was achieved because he led me well. I think I was able to improve myself because pitching coach Lee Seung-ho always cared about me more than I did, caught and informed me about problems and things faster than I did. I am also grateful to my roommate, Ha Young-min.