KIA Tigers Kim Do-young (20) is raising expectations by showing excellent skills improvement in the spring camp.
Kim Do-young is a top-class prospect who joined as the first pick in the 2022 rookie draft. In the exhibition game last year, he received great attention with a batting average of .432 in 12 games (19 hits in 44 bats), 2 homers, 5 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.068. 3 home runs, 19 RBIs, 37 points, 13 stolen bases, and an OPS of .674 left a rather disappointing result.
His debut season was disappointing, but expectations for Kim Do-young are still high. Director Kim Jong-kook said in an interview at the spring camp held at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona, the United States on the 8th (Korean time), “Kim Do-young holds the key. He needs to secure one position this year. Kim Doyoung has improved a lot. He picked Kim Do-young as the key player for this season, saying, “Last year he couldn’t join from the beginning of the season, but now he prepared well and has high expectations.”
Upon hearing that coach Kim Jong-guk had selected him as a key player, Kim Do-young said, “It means that he is looking forward to this year. He laughed shyly, saying, “I have to prepare harder from now on so that I can live up to that expectation.”
Regarding last season, Kim Do-young, who regretted saying, “I couldn’t adapt too much in the beginning,” said, “So, as I changed my batting form a lot, confusion came. However, he was able to go all the way without changing his batting form in the mid-to-late half, and he seems to have improved as he adapted.”
Kim Do-young showed his potential in the second half of last season, recording a batting average of .283 (17 hits in 60 at-bats), 4 RBIs, 8 runs, 6 steals, and an OPS of .802 in 36 games. Kim Do-young, who positively thought of the rebound in the second half, saying, “I don’t think there were any outrageous strikeouts after I got used to it.” I feel like I have completely found my batting form this non-season,” he said, confident of his performance this season.
Kim Do-young, who found a new batting form during the off-season, said, “Looking at last year, during the exhibition game when the pace was good, the hand position before hitting was high. But when I looked at my swing at a bad time, I saw that I came down from a higher position and then started swinging. So, I adjusted the position of my hand low and modified the batting form so that the swing can go out immediately. So he was able to see the ball comfortably. It would be nice to see it as a more concise swing,” he explained the change in batting form. 온라인카지노
In addition to the batting form, adapting to the balls of the first-team pitchers also had an effect on the rebound in the second half. Kim Do-young said, “There are some fixed batting forms, but it was also important that the ball was familiar. Originally, I wasn’t the type to just swing at a slider going outward, but I couldn’t stand it even with such a ball and the bat went out, so I myself was dumbfounded. However, in the second half of the season, that kind of appearance disappeared, so my grades were able to improve.”
Kim Do-young shed a lot of sweat during the off-season to prepare for this season. “Originally, it was a style to prepare alone without going to a training center during the off-season. However, the results last season were not good, so this time I received a recommendation to get help and went to the center to make up for my weaknesses,” said Kim Do-young, who said, “I didn’t think that my strength improved greatly, but since I went to school during the off-season and hit, the coaches He said that he seemed to have gained a lot of strength. Even after coming here, I get a lot of good hits, so I feel a change myself. There doesn’t seem to be a big change, but the hit ball goes far. It might be different if you hit the ball thrown by the pitcher, but now I feel like I’ve improved because it seems to fit well with the direction the coach ordered.”
Kim Do-young, who said, “I have a great desire to settle down in the first team,” said, “I want to continue playing baseball in front of fans in the first team,” and made up his mind this season.