Baseball can’t get any better than this, and the Kia Tigers, who are in first place in the Korean Baseball Organization, are getting a boost from their free agents. In addition to infielder Seo Gun-chang (35), who has been performing like salt all season long, pitcher Kim Seung-hyun (32) has also been picking up meaningful wins and giving the bullpen a boost.

Kia won a thrilling 9-8 comeback victory against Hanwha in Daejeon on April 21. Trailing 5-7 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the team rallied in the top of the ninth, starting with an RBI single by pinch-hitter Kim Do-young and a three-run homer by Choi Hyung-woo. With its six-game winning streak and 12th win in 14 games in July, Kia solidified its position atop the standings with 57 wins, 35 losses and two ties (a .620 winning percentage). Second-place LG is also on a five-game winning streak, but the 6.5-game gap between them and KIA remains unbridgeable.

“We gave up the lead, but the pitchers who came in after us didn’t give up any runs, which was the key to our victory,” said Kia manager Lee Bum-ho after the game. The bullpen gave up four runs in the sixth inning alone, but four pitchers combined for three scoreless innings in the seventh through ninth innings – Kim Sa-yoon (1 inning), Lee Joon-young (⅔ inning), Kim Seung-hyun (⅓ inning), and Jeon Sang-hyun (1 inning).

Seung-hyun Kim was the winning pitcher.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, trailing 5-7, Kim walked the first batter he faced, Kim Tae-yeon, on a straight ball. Two outs and runners on first and second, but he didn’t falter. He struck out Hanwha’s No. 4 hitter, Noh Si-hwan, on three pitches to end the inning. After getting the first strike with a fastball, he followed it up with a two- to three-pitch slider to get a swinging strikeout.

In the top of the ninth, Kia regained the lead with a three-run homer by Choi Hyung-woo, and Jeon Sang-hyun completed the thrilling comeback with a scoreless bottom of the ninth to preserve the one-run lead. Kim Seung-hyun, 토토사이트 추천 who had one out but prevented Hanwha from scoring more runs, earned his first win of the season.

It was his first win since moving to KIA last year and his first victory in five years. It was his first win in 1838 days since July 12, 2019, against LG Electronics in Jamsil (1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief) while still with Samsung.

Kim Seung-hyun, a right-handed pitcher from Gangneung High-Konkuk University, was selected by Samsung with the 10th overall pick in the 2016 second round. He was dubbed the Oh Seung-hwan of the college league for a fastball that averaged around 150 kilometers per hour, but a combination of elbow injuries prevented him from reaching his potential. By 2022, he had pitched in all 91 games for Samsung, going 2-8 with a 5.51 ERA in four relief appearances. In 94⅔ innings pitched, he struck out 76 batters and walked 62, but his velocity struggled.

He was released by Samsung after the 2022 season.

But he didn’t give up on baseball. After his release, he traveled to Australia to try his luck with Geelong Korea, and that winter, Kia reached out to him. “I had the impression that Kia was the New York Yankees of Korea,” Kim said at the time. I was determined to do my best to play for a prestigious organization with a strong tradition and passionate fans.”

After signing with the team for an annual salary of 45 million won, Kim pitched 12⅔ innings in 10 games for the first team last year, posting a 4.26 ERA with no wins or losses. He spent a lot of time in the second team, and this year he pitched exclusively in the Futures League until mid-June. He was designated for assignment three games after his first first-team call-up of the season on March 19, but was recalled on March 14 and has been relieving the bullpen with multiple innings. He pitched a one-out, come-from-behind win against Hanwha on April 21. His average fastball velocity is competitive at 146.2 mph according to PTS.

Kia has had a lot of fun so far by picking up players that other teams have given up on. Pitchers Choi Hyang-nam, Choi Young-pil, Hong Sang-sam, Kim Jae-yeol, Kim Gun-guk, infielder Jung Sung-hoon, and outfielder Ko Jong-wook have all made big and small contributions to the first team. This year, infielder Seo Gun-chang, who was signed for up to 120 million won, including a guaranteed salary of 50 million won and incentives of 70 million won, has rebounded with a batting average of 2.088 runs (46 hits in 160 at-bats), one home run, 18 RBIs, 30 runs scored, 32 runs batted in and a 4.5 percent strikeout rate in 69 games. Add to that Kim Seung-hyun, and you have a player who is poised to join Kia’s lineage of successful free agents.