Kim Gwang-hyun, who served as the ace of the Korean baseball team for the past 15 years, returned the Taegeuk mark. Kim Gwang-hyun announced his retirement on the 14th through his social network service (SNS).
His most eye-catching content was the line, “It was a dream and pride to be a national representative. From the 2005 youth national team to this 2023 WBC, I am proud of myself for playing for the country and Korean baseball.” Yes. Kim Gwang-hyun is a player who knows the weight of the Taegeuk mark better than anyone else.먹튀검증
Kim Gwang-hyun did not say anything, but he knew that the World Baseball Classic (WBC) match against Japan held at Tokyo Dome, Japan on the 10th was the last start he threw with the Taegeuk mark. Kim Gwang-hyun, who had been warming up alone in the outfield until right before the game started, quietly entered the third base dugout when the Japanese national anthem was played. And he started preparing for his mound.
He had a different mindset even before the game started. He didn’t play around with his co-workers, he had time only for himself. He seemed to be concentrating only on the game, and his expression was full of determination to win.
The photo booth at the baseball field is right next to the dugout. So, you can feel the breath and spirit of the players. Kim Gwang-hyun’s pitching felt here was sincere.
Kim Kwang-Hyun pitched his best from the first episode. The shout of ‘Ouch’ was clearly audible, and with the mindset that there was no tomorrow, I put all my energy into every ball, one hit after another. As a result, he recorded 5 strikeouts until the 2nd inning and completely blocked the Japanese national team batting line with no runs. In particular, when the Japanese hero Ohtani struck out on a swing at the end of the first inning, the Japanese fans who filled the Tokyo Dome immediately sighed “ah” and froze at Kim Kwang-hyun’s pitch. They seemed to be worried that they would be beaten by the Japanese killer Kwang-Hyun Kim again.
However, Kim Gwang-hyun’s breathing was gradually getting rougher. Although he kept it scoreless, the number of pitches was high as he struck out 5 of his 6 out counts. Moreover, due to the bullpen waiting for the game against Australia the day before, his physical strength was not normal and he was quickly depleted.
When he entered the dugout after the inning, his teammates gave high fives and were happy, but he could clearly see that he was struggling physically with his head down. What Kim Gwang-hyun needed was pitch management. It was a situation where they had to catch up quickly with a small number of pitches, but the Japanese hitters persevered. Genda and Nakamura got on base with a walk after a full-count battle and began to break Kim Gwang-hyun. In the end, Kim Gwang-hyun finished his last pitch as a national representative with 2 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts and 4 runs.
However, no one criticizes Kim Gwang-hyun for his pitching. Even at the age of 35, he took on the important role of selecting the Japanese match and did his best with more than 100% of his strength even in a physically difficult situation. Coach Lee Kang-cheol, who said he would appoint Kim Gwang-hyeon as a bullpen pitcher before the tournament, eventually had no choice but to choose Kim Gwang-hyeon as the starting pitcher.
Even though the 2023 WBC ended in failure, junior pitchers would have learned fighting spirit from watching Kim Gwang-hyun and felt the weight and pride of the Taegeuk mark. Now, the place where Kim Gwang-hyun left has to be filled by juniors. As Kim Gwang-hyun said, there were times when his grades were not good, but he was not disappointed and could use it as an opportunity to become stronger. And now the juniors have to take over the national team opportunity to learn and grow so much.