With the 2025 KBO rookie draft dubbed "a rich year for left-handed pitchers," the KIA Tigers, who have the fifth-ranked right to nominate, will likely miss all three of the top left-handed pitchers. However, Kim Tae-hyung (18), a right-hander of Deoksu High School who is evaluated as a starting player, is expected to remain, which alleviates concerns.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will hold the 2025 KBO Rookie Draft at the Lotte Hotel World Crystal Ballroom in Seoul at 2 p.m. on the 11th. Nominations will be made from round 1 to round 11, followed by Kiwoom-Hanwha-Samsung-Lotte-KIA-Doosan-SSG-KT-LG, which is the reverse order of the team's ranking in 2023.
In this draft, left-handers were expected to gain strength, with five players making the first round of candidates including Deoksu High School's Chung Hyeon-woo (18), Daegu High School's Bae Chan-seung (18), Gwangju Il High School's Kim Tae-hyun (19), Bibong High School's Park Jung-hoon (18), and Sebo Young-bo's Kwon Min-gyu (18). Up until July, the top three players in total were Jeong Woo-ju (18), Jeong Hyun-woo and Kim Tae-hyung from Jeongo. Kia was able to aim for the top three left-handers, not those who were left behind. However, since around the presidential background, Jeong had a fight with Jeong Woo-ju over the top three, and Bae Chan-seung and Kim Tae-hyun threatened the top three, as their stock prices soared.
Kia has no concerns, however. Standing 186 centimeters tall and weighing 91 kilograms, Kim is a right-handed pitcher who throws fast balls up to 153 kilometers per hour. Analysts say he can stably perform two sliders, a curveball and a splitter.
He is as stable as his friend Chung Hyeon-woo. He has been on the mound steadily since he was a sophomore, and made headlines with his no-hitter in nine innings at Cheongwon High School in the weekend league last year. He had 13 wins and two losses with a 2.11 ERA in 40 games in high school, 136 strikeouts with 42 pitches (38 walks and four pitches) in 115 ⅓ innings, and 0.93 WHIP (permissible on-base allowed per inning). Based on his achievements, he also won his first national flag at the 2024 Asian Youth Baseball Championship, which ended on the 8th.
After winning the Golden Lion in May this year, Chung Hyeon-woo also said, "I'm going to throw it with confidence because (Kim) Tae-hyung is here. If I'm not here, Tae-hyung can win, or I can win. This is why I think it's better to have two (definite starters) in the team."
"Even if we expand the number of rookies to the beginning of the second round this year, we have fewer than five starting pitchers. Kim Tae-hyung is one of them. Among right-handers, he is second only to Jung Woo-joo. It will not be easy for him to pass the fifth round," the KBO scout told Star News last month.
Another KBO club official said, "There are some things that I felt a little bit disappointed about the right-hander this year compared to last year, but Kim Tae-hyung is not missing anything. Except for Chung, other left-handers each have their own risk factors, and Kim Tae-hyung has no risk. Slider and splitter breaking ball control is also good. With no player as strong as Kim Taek-yeon (19), the Doosan Bears last year, Kim Tae-hyung is a player who deserves to be selected in the first round."
At a similar level, the team chooses left-handed pitchers rather than right-handed ones. However, Kia's current situation, in which right-handed pitchers are relatively weak and left-handed pitchers are abundant, increases the value of right-handed Kim Tae-hyung. Kim Tae-hyung also moved to Deoksugo High School in Seoul after graduating from Hwasun Elementary School to Hwasun Middle School in South Jeolla Province, so it is safe to say that he is a local bo.
His childhood sweetheart was Yang Hyeon-jong (36), Kia's "big pitcher." "I started playing baseball in my neighborhood because I was so cool while watching KIA baseball. I liked Yang the most," said Kim after winning the Golden Lion. 토토사이트
Some say that Kia will soon be able to establish itself in the top tier of the pro baseball league, which is a point where Kia could find attractive. Not long time is left to play with Choi Hyung-woo (41), Yang Hyeon-jong (35), Kim Sun-bin (35) and Na Sung-bum (35), who are leading Kia this year. In particular, Kim Tae-hyung is considered an appropriate alternative amid troubles due to frequent injuries to starting pitchers. What choice will Kia make.
