Pitching through the pain of ejection.
KIA pitcher Kim Jae-yeol (27) pitched a personal best innings in the game after the starting pitcher’s sudden retirement due to a headshot. Manager Kim Jong-kook and pitching coach Seo Jae-eung praised Kim’s pitching.
In the first inning of the game between KIA and KT at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Korea, an unexpected turn of events occurred. Kim Gun-gook, KIA’s starting pitcher, threw a fastball (141 kilometers) at Park Byung-ho in the second inning that grazed his helmet. The umpires called it a head shot.
Kim quickly warmed up in the bullpen and took the mound to throw practice pitches. He threw his first pitch with runners on first and third and got Jang Sung-woo to fly out to right field.
After KIA scored two runs in the top of the second inning, Kim Jae-yeol gave up a leadoff single to Choi Jae-dae. With one out, he walked Oh Yoon-seok to load the bases, but the second baseman dropped the ball while trying to catch it. With runners on first and second, he allowed a run on a hit that was dropped between the second baseman and center fielder. He struck out Alford with runners on first and second and got Kim Min-hyuk to ground out to second.
Kim Jae-yeol led off the third with a double to left-center off Hwang Jae-gyun and a single to right-center off Park Byung-ho to put runners on first and third with no outs. One out later, a sacrifice fly to left tied the game at 2-2.
He pitched a scoreless fourth inning and got two outs in the fifth against KT center fielder Hwang Jae-gyun and Park Byung-ho. After Jang Jang-woo walked, pitching coach Seo Jae-ng took the mound. Kim Jae-yeol was all smiles on the mound, and the pitching change was made.
Kim threw 80 pitches, allowing two runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts in four innings. He broke his personal record for most innings pitched (3⅔ innings against SSG in Gwangju on June 16, 2021) and most pitches thrown (54 pitches against Kiwoom in Gochuk on June 25, 2021).
After the game, Kim Jae-yeol was asked what he talked about with pitching coach Seo Jae-heng on the mound and if he laughed, he said, “The pitching coach came up smiling, so I laughed with him. He said, ‘Good job, good job,'” Kim said.
Coach Kim Jong-guk said after the game, “In a difficult situation where our starting pitcher had to leave the mound early due to unforeseen circumstances, Kim Jae-yeol pitched four really good innings. He played a big role in the team’s victory today.”
Kim Jae-yeol joined Lotte in the 2014 second round (71st overall), but was released after playing only in the second team. He played eight games in the Futures League in 2016 and 27 games in 2017 before being released.
He hasn’t given up on baseball since, playing in social baseball after completing his military service. He was recognized for his potential with a fastball in the low 140s, and in 2020, KIA offered him a chance to play professionally again.
In his first year with KIA in 2020, he played 15 games in the second team with four saves and a 1.45 ERA, and made an emotional first-team debut in early September. It was a bitter experience, as he gave up three runs in ⅓ of an inning against Hanwha in his first start.
In 2020, he appeared in 14 games out of the bullpen, and in 2021, he made his first appearance of the season on April 8 against Kiwoom, throwing 1⅓ scoreless innings of relief to earn his first professional win. He was a regular in the first team until last year, posting a 2-3 record with one save and a 5.52 ERA in 85 games over three years.
This season, he has been a consistent starter in the Futures League, going 4-2 with a 2.29 ERA in 11 games. After being recalled in late May and early July, Jae-yeol erased the starting pitcher’s exit velocity.
“I suddenly got on the mound and tried to stay as calm as possible, and I wasn’t too nervous because I had been preparing for it,” Kim said after the game. “Senior Kim Tae-gun told me in the dugout just before I got on the mound in the bottom of the second inning that I should be aggressive with the opposing batters, and that gave me some psychological stability,” Kim said.온라인카지노
“I recently took a starting class at Futures, and I didn’t have any anxiety about long innings. For today’s game, I thought I would pitch a maximum of four innings rather than a long inning, and I think pitching my best every inning helped the team win. I will be a player who is ready to go out at any time like today.”
KIA used a flurry of hits in the final inning to win 6-2 and extend its winning streak to three games. Kim Jae-yeol was the salt in the wound for KIA, which traded catcher Kim Tae-gun and used two foreign pitchers in the game.