Kim Bum-suk (20) of the LG Twins and Kim Do-young (21) of the KIA Tigers. The performance of the two geniuses is raising baseball fans’ expectations.
“Kim Bum-suk is capable of performing better than Kim Do-young,” LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop encouraged him. But he was only able to control his weight.
Kim Bum-suk, who played in 10 games in the 2023 season on the professional stage, is receiving more opportunities to play this season.
He played in 21 games during the 2024 season, recording a batting average of 0.344 (21 hits in 61 times at bat), two doubles, three homers, 16 RBIs, nine walks and 17 strikeouts, a slugging percentage of 0.525, on-base percentage of 0.437 and an OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 0.962. He had a batting average of 0.462 in total, and a batting average of .500 as a pinch hitter. Notably, he wore a catcher’s mask for the first time since his debut at a match against Lotte in Busan on Sunday.
Originally, Kim was in the plan of manager Yeom Kyung-yeop this season. However, Kim returned home in the middle of the season due to intramuscular muscle injury caused by weight loss failure during the spring camp in Arizona, the U.S. As he had higher expectations than anyone else, he naturally felt disappointed.
Since then, Kim focused on rehabilitation and was called up to the primary team on April 12. After receiving a substitute shot, Kim left a strong impression by starting the game for the first time this season at the match against SSG on April 21, and hitting a grand slam. His April performance was 0.361 with 12 RBIs and two homers. Whenever Kim enters the batter’s box, LG fans have high expectations.
Yeom is known as a leader who can grasp and revive a player’s talent and potential better than anyone else. Park Byung-ho, Kang Jung-ho, and Kim Ha-sung grew up under Yeom during the Heroes era.
Then, what does Yeom think of Kim Bum-suk’s talent? “If there are nine main players except for pitchers, now there are 10 (including Kim) Bum-suk. If you play more than 100 games in a season, you will see tremendous growth,” Yeom said. “It is a card that can give rest to the main players while investing in the future.” In his second year as a professional player, the head coach of the team mentioned him as the de facto main player of the winning team.
“It’s mental strength. A good clutch means a good mentality,” Yeom said of Kim’s strength. “A person who lacks mental capacity cannot control himself in such a situation. The same applies to workplaces. Some people’s heart beats fast when their boss calls them out of the blue, while others don’t. Baseball is the same.”
“I have a good sense of baseball. That’s why I’m good at it. I have many unique strengths at that age. The more I look at it, the more I see strengths, not weaknesses. Such a player inevitably takes less time to grow. Physical conditions and a good sense of baseball are different in nature,” he stressed.
Then, what Yeom emphasized to Kim Bum-suk again was weight management. “In a way, being born with a constitution that makes you gain weight is a huge minus,” Yeom said. “If (Kim) has a body like Kim Do-young, he is a player who has the baseball capability to perform well beyond that. After all, you have to control yourself. Just because you want to develop athletic abilities does not mean that you can easily develop them. However, physical conditions are something you can control if you have your will. If someone else has to try 100, Kim already has 70 for 300,000 efforts. That’s why I stress him to keep trying 30,” he stressed again.
BY: 토토사이트
