The potential of left-handed prospect Kim Jin-wook (21, Lotte Giants), who joined with high expectations but suffered confusion during the first two seasons, is gradually being revealed. He may follow in the footsteps of his senior team, who performed well out of the bullpen and made it to the starting lineup.
Kim Jin-wook climbed the mound following starter Park Se-woong at the end of the 6th inning when the team trailed 0-3 in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO league away game against the NC Dinos at Changwon NC Park on the 23rd.
As soon as he took the mound, Jin-wook Kim gave a walk to the first batter, Young-su Oh, and seemed to be shaken. However, he caught the next hitter, Do Tae-hoon, with a pitcher’s floating ball, and Ahn Jung-yeol, who had been playing with the battery until last year, also struck out three pitches. The 9th pitcher Kim Han-byeol also closed the inning by catching him with a ground ball. 안전놀이터
The 7th episode went with a similar flow. Kim Jin-wook walked lead batter Park Min-woo, but caught Cheon Jae-hwan’s bunt ball and threw it quickly, putting the runner on first out from second base. Then, Park Gun-woo and Son Ah-seop were treated with a ground ball to the third baseman and a floating ball to the left fielder, respectively, to finish the 7th inning.
Kim Jin-wook was replaced with Choi Lee-joon in the 8th inning and finished the mound. On this day, Kim Jin-wook recorded no runs in 2 innings, no hits, 2 walks and 1 strikeout. In a situation where Lotte declared a break for Pilseungjoong, such as Choi Jun-yong, Koo Seung-min, and Kim Won-joong, pitcher management was freed thanks to Kim Jin-wook blocking the second inning. Also, thanks to maintaining the score difference without further widening, Lotte scored 5 points at the beginning of the 9th inning and won 5-3 come-from-behind.
