With Park Dong-won signing a free agent contract with LG for four years and 6.5 billion won, KIA would like to see left-handed sidearm Dae-yoo Kim, 32, who was acquired as a compensation player, succeed somehow. However, Dae-yoo pitched an unexpectedly up-and-down first two months of the season.
In 19 games, he’s 2-2 with a 6.92 ERA, a .234 batting average, and a 1.23 WHIP. It’s far from dominant. He walked six batters while striking out 16. He doesn’t give up a lot of free passes, but he does have a high percentage of hard-hit balls. 안전놀이터
According to Baseball-Reference, his BABIP against right-handed batters dropped from 0.255 in 2022 to 0.091 this year. His BABIP against left-handed batters increased slightly from 0.240 last year to 0.265 this year. He also throws less fastballs and more curveballs than he did last year, but his high BABIP against fastballs (0.348 this year) is deadly. His slider and curveball BABIPs are actually lower than last year.
Dae-Yu Kim basically has a sparse delivery. However, his struggles against left-handed hitters make him a bit less valuable. The KIA bullpen is full of left-handed pitchers, including Choi Ji-min, Lee Jun-young, and Kim Ki-hoon. However, he had a 2-2 record with a 12.79 ERA in 12 games in April and a 1.35 ERA in seven games in May, which is quite a good pace.
However, Dae-yoo was designated for assignment on the 29th after giving up one run on three hits with two strikeouts in two innings against the Gwangju LG Electronics on the 28th. When he had a bad April, he was trusted by the bench. However, he was sent down to the second team in May when the good times stopped.
His weakness against the left-handed Chinjeong LG was noticeable. After three games, he has a 13.50 ERA. In the exhibition games, he went 1-0 with a 16.20 ERA in two games. LG must know Kim Dae-yoo well. Kim Dae-yoo also knows LG’s hitters well, but it doesn’t work out.
Dae-yoo, like Lee Jun-young, has a lot of value as a left-handed lineup specialist. He’ll definitely have a use when he returns to the first team after the rebuild. For KIA, Dae-yoo’s ups and downs could be painful as Park Dong-won had an MVP-caliber season in the opening two months for LG. But the season is long. There’s plenty of time for Kim Dae-yu to make a splash for KIA.