"Overwhelming (Kim) Taek-yeon, his salary is amazing..." He's so determined to win the Rookie of the Year award... "I'll try it in 2025."
"Overwhelming (Kim) Taek-yeon, his salary is amazing..." He's so determined to win the Rookie of the Year award... "I'll try it in 2025."
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"I'll definitely overwhelm you in 2025."
KT Wiz's second-year pitcher Won Sang-hyun (21) predicted 2025 that will be different due to the outstanding performance of Kim Taek-yeon (20, Doosan Bears) during the draft.토토사이트
Won Sang-hyun, who recently met at Suwon KT Wiz Park, said, "I'm embarrassed to say that I would win the Rookie of the Year award when KT came in, but I only have a plan to do very well in 2025."
Won Sang-hyun fired up his strong will because of Kim Taek-yeon's overwhelming performance last year, a fellow KBO rookie draft player in 2024. Kim Taek-yeon, who was nominated by Doosan as the second overall pick in the first round after graduating from Dongmak Elementary School, Sang Incheon Middle School, and Incheon High School, recorded 60 games, 3 wins, 2 losses, 4 holds, 19 saves, an ERA of 2.08 and 78 strikeouts in 65 innings.
Despite starting with the chasing team, Kim Taek-yeon took the finishing position less than two months after the opening, and later received the KBO Rookie of the Year award in 2024 for her consistent performance. After the end of the season, she also joined the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 national team. A series of failures by foreign pitchers have completely collapsed the starting line, and Doosan repaid with a hot salary.
In the salary negotiations that concluded last month, Kim Taek-yeon finalized her 2025 salary contract for 140 million won, up 110 million won (366.7 percent) from 30 million won. This was the highest annual salary tie in the second year of high school graduates like So Hyung-joon (KT) in 2021, and it was also the highest increase rate ever by the Bears, which exceeded 300% (50 million won → 200 million won) of Kim Jae-hwan in 2017.
Wonsang was also stimulated by the feat. A graduate of Gasan Elementary School (Busan Jin District Little), Gaesung Middle School and Busan High School, Wonsang joined KT as the seventh pick in the first round of the draft in the same year. Wonsang aimed to win the Rookie of the Year award when he was drafted, but had a rough debut season with two wins, five losses and one hold with an ERA of 7.03 in 22 games.
"When I saw (Kim) Taek-yeon, I started to look back on myself a lot," Won said. "In fact, I tend to work harder when my personality is motivated," Won Sang-hyun said. "I was really into Taek-yeon last year. I felt overwhelmed watching her throw, and I received a new rookie award after the season and got a huge salary difference, which was positively stimulated."
Won Sang-hyun is also expected to display outstanding performance as well as Kim Taek-yeon. During his time at Busan High School, Won was praised for his fastballs with speeds of up to 153 kilometers per hour and the best curves in high school. Notably, his curves also fascinated KT manager Lee Kang-chul, who was known as a KBO legend when he was active and an outstanding pitching trainer even after retirement. "I'm really confident in my curves. Coach Lee Kang-chul also said, "If I catch two strikes, no one can hit four curves (afterwards)," and added, "The coach told me that for the curve to work, I have to let hitters play fast. I told him that if he wins quickly and drops the curve at the end, he will never hit it."
Four-seam fastballs, which are the main pitches, have attractive movements and pitches if they do not run out of strength, and the two fastballs and curveballs alone are considered sufficient as a resource for the first team bullpen. On top of that, the two-seam fastball grip that head coach Lee Kang-chul informed has rapidly emerged as another card that will confuse batters when they are tired.
Won Sang-hyun explained, "At the end of the camp, my fastball pitching came up so much that the coach told me to throw a fastball. If I practice well, I think I can use a four-seam fastball when I have strength and a two-seam fastball when I feel I have fallen. The curve was originally about 126 kilometers per hour, but now it can come out to 135 kilometers to make changes."
What needs to be improved is the physical strength to play full time of 144 games and the command (the ability to put strikes where you want to) that is still lacking a lot. Due to his constitution that does not gain weight, he has difficulties such as eating four bowls when others eat two bowls, but he is gradually moving toward his target weight of 90kg.
If the command, which is constantly striving, is caught, there is a good chance that Won Sang-hyun will become a must-win group like Kim Taek-yeon. After the departure of Kim Min (26, SSG Landers), KT's road to closer Park Young-hyun (22) has become even tougher. There are Woo Kyu-min (40), Kim Min-soo (33), Ju-ju (30) and Son Dong-hyun (24), but they are not the players who can expect overwhelming performances.
Won said, "I don't care if I'm a starting pitcher or a bullpen. It's up to the manager to hire him anyway, and I'll overwhelm him in that position no matter what time I play."