“Looking for that look!”
Left-handed pitcher Jin-Wook Kim (21, Rodeo) made another trip to the second team. He was scratched from the 1-day roster. It’s the second time this year. In early June, he also went through a 10-day readjustment period. The reason is clear. He wasn’t performing as expected on the mound. The three-game series against KIA on June 28-30 is a prime example. Despite pitching three straight games, he was unable to fulfill his duties. Lotte manager Larry Sutton said of Kim, “We’re going to give him time, and hopefully he’ll find his pace (in the meantime).”
“My biggest problem is my wobbly pitches. He’s not putting the ball where he wants it. I’m not putting the ball where I want it to go, and I’m not controlling my changeup as well as I should, so I’m simplifying my pitches. Hitters are coming in looking for fastballs. Inexperienced pitchers sometimes try to avoid hitters because they don’t want to be hit too hard. Not Jin-Wook Kim. “Mentally, he’s fine,” Sutton said. He wants to fight on the mound,” Sutton said. “It just looks that way because it’s not working.”
Kim Jin-wook was drafted by Lotte in the first round (1st overall) of the 2021 KBO Draft. He was recognized as a big-time prospect early on. He even played in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. In the big picture of the organization, he was in the starting rotation but failed to establish himself. He was hampered by his inherent pitching anxiety. In his first two years, he had an ERA in the six-run range (6.31-6.36). “One of the dreams of every manager is to have a left-handed starter,” Sutton said, but he also pointed out that “whether it’s a starter or a reliever, it has to be a pitcher.”토토사이트
It’s not all doom and gloom. There is hope. Earlier this year, he showed signs of improvement. They opened the year with 11 consecutive scoreless innings. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep it going. Sutton said, “At the beginning of the season, Jin-Wook Kim definitely showed improvement. Offensively, he took control of the pitch count. He was putting pitches in and out of the strike zone, lefties and righties alike,” Sutton said, emphasizing that “you don’t have to be perfect, but you have to throw strikes when you need to.”