Kim, an infielder for the San Diego Padres, finished the first half of the year batting .275 (71-for-51) with 10 home runs, 31 RBIs, 44 runs scored, and a .760 OPS.
His ability to react to fastballs, which was noted as a weakness, was also noticeably better. Looking at his fastball wOBA, it was .301 in 2021, his rookie year, but it increased to .332 last year and is even better this year at .352. His batting average on fastballs over 95 mph (153 kilometers) has also increased each year. Kim had a 1.1-1.5 ratio in 2021 and a 1.5 ratio last year, but this year he has improved by leaps and bounds to over 3. His coach at The Ballpark, Choi Won-je, was right when he predicted that he would be “better than last year” before the season.
In a phone interview with OSEN on the 13th, Choi, who also serves as Kim’s personal hitting coach, said, “His hitting has improved from last year. With two years of experience and a consistent training routine, his own batting has been established and his bad habits have been reduced.”
“Eventually, my ability to handle fastballs improved, and my overall hitting metrics improved. “It was a combination of technical changes and a lot of hard work watching fastballs in the 100 mph range off the pitching machine. Most importantly, utilizing a specialty ball with high spin instead of a regular baseball helped me a lot.”
To improve Kim’s ability to react to fastballs, Choi analyzed all of his at-bats against 95+ mph pitches up until last year. “In the end, it wasn’t about fixing his swing, it was about showing him how to move correctly,” he says.
After struggling with stamina depletion for the past two years, Kim also changed his weight training. He focused on staying at a weight that would allow him to perform at his best throughout the season, and it’s paying off so far.
Kim hit double-digit home runs in the first half of the season. He’s on pace for his first 20-homer season. Coach Choi Won-je said, “He’s always been a hard worker, but he’s been working harder this year. There are always slumps when you’re doing well, but when you’re hitting well, you don’t overlook the little things. He’s not satisfied with where he is, he’s constantly working on it. If I don’t forget what I’m doing now and play well in the second half of the season, good things will come.”온라인바카라
During the All-Star break, Kim has been sweating it out at coach Choi Won-je’s academy in Los Angeles. “He’s so professional. He could have taken a break, but he’s working hard to maintain his training routine. He always thinks he’s not good enough, and he’s constantly trying. That’s why he’s so good at baseball.”
“It’s no different in the offseason. There were a lot of people who wanted to meet me in Korea, but I just focused on training. He trained a lot, but he never said it was hard, and the harder it was, the stronger he got.”
Looking ahead to Kim’s second half of the season, Choi Won-je said, “Over the course of a season, he’s going to improve his batting