KIA Tigers coach Kim Jong-kook picked one player who showed the best performance in pitching and hitting this year ahead of the final game against the Gwangju NC Dinos on the 17th. Outfielder Lee Woo-sung and pitcher Lim Ki-young are the main characters. Kim Jong-kook is the MVP in his mind.
Lim Ki-young competed for the fifth starting pitcher with Kim Ki-hoon and rookie Yoon Young-chul in the Tucson Spring Camp in Arizona. However, Yoon Young-chul was pushed back from the competition because he was so unique. At first, he was on standby as a long relief, but naturally changed his position to a setup man, and he was appointed at an increasingly important point, and even took charge of temporary finishing during Jeong Hae-young’s turbulence in the first half.
Jang Hyun-sik’s move this season was not good in the aftermath of surgery to remove bone fragments in his elbow. Jeon Sang-hyun was also not at a very good pace in the first half. At this time, Lim Ki-young endured at the back with Choi Ji-min. Head coach Kim Jong-kook was able to give Jeon Sang-hyun and Jung Hae-young time to boldly reorganize in the second division because he had great faith in Lim Ki-young. 스포츠토토
In 64 games, he had four wins, four losses, three saves, and 16 holds with a 2.96 ERA. In the first half, he had 51 innings and a 2.65 ERA in 33 games. In the second half of 31 games, he went up a little with 31 innings and a 3.48 ERA, but it was okay. In September-October, the season’s biggest match, he had 2 losses and 5 hold average of 4.40 in 15 games, but at that time, the previously expected bullpen pitchers such as Jeon Sang-hyun, Kim Dae-yu, and Jung Hae-young had improved their condition a lot.
What was more intense than Lim Ki-young’s time as a starting pitcher this year is the change in change-up grip. As he changed his grip, the drop in the change-up increased. According to the baseball statistics site Statistics, Lim Ki-young’s changeup hit rate dropped sharply from 0.234 last year to 0.180 this year. Fastball also went down from 0.266 last year to 0.202 this year.
He was the bullpen pitcher who played the most multi-inning games in the league this year. It is the most innings by a pure bullpen pitcher. The reason for the slight slump in September and October was the aftermath of back-to-back pitching until the middle of the season. No one could complain about Lim Ki-young’s ups and downs at the end of the season.
Head coach Kim Jong-guk said, “Ki-young’s pace dropped a little at the end of the season. He also seems to have contracted a lot, and he seems to have cared a lot. He did a great job and led the bullpen well. When I was in bad condition, I went to the stadium first to prepare. He said, “I recognized that my pace has dropped.”
Lim Ki-young will become a free agent after the 2024 season. This year’s annual salary is 150 million won. If we perform better than this year next year, we can lay the foundation for the FA jackpot. In addition, there is no law that if he continues to play as a bullpen pitcher, he will not be given a chance to show his skills in international competitions such as Premier 12 in 2024 and WBC in 2026. opened a second heyday.