Finally, ‘Doo Taek-yeon’ comes to reality. Incheon High School pitcher Kim Taek-yeon, who returned from the youth baseball team, will participate in the 2024 KBO rookie draft held two days later. As the ‘largest right-hander,’ the Doosan Bears, who hold the second overall pick, are increasingly likely to appoint him.
Kim Taek-yeon is evaluated as a ‘Top 2’ resource in the upcoming rookie draft along with Jangchung High School pitcher Hwang Jun-seo. If Hwang Jun-seo, who is considered the ‘biggest left-hander’, is selected by the Hanwha Eagles with the first overall pick, Taek-yeon Kim is naturally likely to wear a Doosan uniform.
The Doosan team also observed Hwang Jun-seo and Kim Taek-yeon for a long time. Doosan, which had been weighing Hwang Jun-seo and Kim Taek-yeon even before Jang Hyun-seok (LA Dodgers) announced his intention to advance to the United States, was in a comfortable position of taking the remaining player after observing Hanwha’s selection.
Doosan coach Lee Seung-yeop also gave high praise to Kim Taek-yeon. Manager Lee said, “We are looking at good pitching resources, including Hwang Jun-seo and Kim Taek-yeon, with the club. In particular, I watched Taekyeon Kim’s pitching, and I was impressed by the stable pitching that was unusual for a high school student. It will inevitably change depending on what choice Hanwha makes. I think whoever joins our team will be a great help. “We will have to look at the players who join our team during the final training in the future and decide how to develop them,” he said, expressing great expectations.
Kim Taek-yeon further increased his value through this World Youth Baseball Championship. Kim Taek-yeon appeared in 6 games in the tournament and recorded 2 wins, 1 save, 29 strikeouts, and an ERA of 0.88 in 16 innings. In the bronze medal game against the United States, he led the national team to the bronze medal with a shutout pitched 7 innings.스포츠토토
However, Taekyeon Kim fell into the controversy of ‘overuse of five consecutive fights’. Kim Taek-yeon pitched in relief against Taiwan on September 2 and threw 54 pitches. After taking a day’s rest, he made a relief appearance against Australia on September 4 and threw 15 pitches.
And Kim Taek-yeon, who took a day’s rest on the 5th, made a relief appearance against Puerto Rico on the 6th and threw 21 pitches, but was unable to finish the pitch due to a suspended game due to rain. Kim Taek-yeon, who also took the mound in the suspended game against Puerto Rico that resumed on the 7th, finished his appearance by throwing 19 pitches.
In the Super Round match against the United States held on the 8th, Kim Taek-yeon took the mound in relief, following starter Hwang Jun-seo, and pitched 16 pitches. Kim Taek-yeon, who pitched 3 consecutive pitches, also appeared in relief in the Super Round match against the Netherlands on the 9th and threw 24 pitches along with 4 consecutive pitches.
Following the 4-game series, the much-anticipated ‘5-game series’ became a reality. Kim Taek-yeon took the starting mound in the bronze medal game against the United States and threw a total of 98 pitches until the 7th inning. In 21st century baseball, where a total of 178 pitches were thrown over 5 days, something incredibly and unrealistic happened.
Kim Taek-yeon faced controversy over abuse in five consecutive pitches while on the youth national baseball team. Photo = WBSC
Kim Taek-yeon’s youth baseball team appearance log:
2nd, 54 pitches against Taiwan,
3 days rest,
4th, 15 pitches against Australia, 5
days rest
, 6th, 21 pitches against Puerto Rico, 7th
, 19 pitches against Puerto Rico (suspended), 8th
, 16 pitches against USA,
9th against Netherlands The Korean national team bench, led by coach Lee Young-bok (Chungam High School), who pitched a total of 247 pitches over 9 days during the 24-pitch,
10-day, 98-pitch match against the United States, was able to stop Taek-yeon Kim’s 5-game series. However, he took advantage of the rest rule according to the number of pitches and led a 5-game series. In the game against the Netherlands on the 9th, the scene where Kim Taek-yeon, who had filled 24 pitches during a full-count game with the opposing batter, was replaced by Jeon Mir was decisive. According to the rules of rest competitions based on the number of pitches, in order to hold a three-game series, the total number of pitches for the previous two days must be 40 or less. Kim Taek-yeon threw 16 and 24 pitches on the 8th and 9th, respectively, hitting the 40-pitch cutoff line for three consecutive pitches. Since pitching in the suspended game on the 7th is considered as pitching in the regular game on the 6th, Taekyeon Kim was able to pitch in the bronze medal match against the United States on the 10th. However, he was not a bullpen pitcher, having only appeared in five consecutive pitches. Kim Taek-yeon took the starting mound on the day of the 5-game series and led the team to a shutout victory with a total of 98 pitches in 7 innings.
An amateur baseball official who watched this scene said, “It is a much more fatal problem for a pitcher to pitch for several days without rest than to throw a lot of balls in one day. Moreover, since they are adolescents and not adults, their bones are not yet fully hardened. If you fight, you definitely need an appropriate rest day. He pointed out, “I think the 5-game series is a mound operation that only considers the national team’s performance, not the player’s health.”
This official continued, “For example, in the case of the U.S. youth national team, the approximate mound operation is finalized in advance before the start of the competition. For each pitcher, the pitch date and innings have already been decided in the grand scheme of things before pitching. He said, “There is absolutely no reason to engage in unreasonable battles since all the pitchers included in the entry are utilized evenly.” In fact, the U.S. youth baseball team, which played in the bronze medal game against Korea, played on the mound without a single pitch in this tournament.
In this way, amidst the controversy over overuse in five consecutive fights, Kim Taek-yeon finished all official competitions before the rookie draft was held. Now, all we can do is hope that the physical condition that was strained by the long fight will recover well. We hope that Taekyeon Kim will prepare for his professional debut season safely and healthily next season along with the professional designation of his dreams.