Hwimun High School pitcher Kim Hwi Gun led his team to the round of 16 of the National High School Baseball Championship with a dominant performance. His fastball was up to 150 km/h and he overcame a weakness in his delivery.
On Aug. 4, the team defeated Ansan Industrial High School 4-1 in the second game of the Presidential Baseball Tournament at Mokdong Stadium in Seoul. The team will face Chungam High School in the round of 16 on Aug. 5 at 2 p.m. at Mokdong Stadium.
In the bottom of the first inning, Whimungo struck first when starter Park Sung-joon gave up a two-out RBI double to Ahn Hee-joon with the bases loaded.
In the top of the second inning, Hyungmungo battled back to take a 2-1 lead after Baek Gyeryul hit a tying RBI double and Lee Jung-jun followed with a RBI single to left.
With two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Park Sung-joon walked and “ace” Kim Hwi-gun was immediately sent to the mound. Kim induced Ahn Hee-joon to ground out to third base to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Kim pitched a clean, three-hit shutout with one strikeout. In the bottom of the fifth, Kim allowed the leadoff hitter to reach on an infield error, but he easily escaped the inning with a grounder to the shortstop, a hit by pitch, and a strikeout.
In the bottom of the sixth, Kim showed his power by striking out the next two batters before ending the inning with a line drive to shortstop. With Kim on the mound, Whimungo added runs in the top of the fourth and fifth innings to take a 4-1 lead.
Kim handed the mound over to Ryu Han-jun in the bottom of the seventh to close out the game. Kim threw 3.1 innings of no-hit ball, striking out four and walking none on 43 pitches. His fastball was clocked at 150km/h on the day. His fastball was mostly in the mid-to-high 140km/h range.
After the game, Kim said, “I struggled with my fastball in the first inning. However, towards the end of the inning, both my velocity and fastball improved to a satisfactory level. I’m also happy with my 150km/h fastball. I also touched 154km/h in a recent practice game, so I believe it will get better and better,” said Kim.
Kim’s weakness has always been his unstable delivery. 스포츠토토 That’s why his no-hitter stood out today.
“I’m focusing more on the mental part of my pitches than the technical part. I tried to develop my concentration by looking only at the mitt when throwing the ball. I’m glad I was able to show the scouts and fans what I’ve been working on with my pitches today.”
Kim was projected to be in the top three at the beginning of the year, but he has fallen off a bit in recent years, but the consensus is that he still has a chance to be in the top five.
“Jang Hyun-seok went to the U.S., and other friends recently had shaky results as their restraints dropped a bit. I’ve had a bit of a hiatus, but I want to show good pitching and get a good draft order starting with this tournament. My goal has always been ‘No. 1’. My goal is to get drafted as high as possible and show that I can start pitching right away in year one.”
