Lee Ho-joon, the new manager of the NC Dinos, has a lot of expectations for Kim Tae-hyun.
Kim Tae-hyun is making all-out efforts to improve his performance in the off-season. The season started early for the first time. He is struggling to do something with just his heart to play baseball well.스포츠토토
Kim Tae-hyun, who recently met at Changwon NC Park, said, "I originally prepared for the season after resting for about two weeks, but this year I took four days off and immediately started exercising. I am losing a lot of weight to maintain my target weight, and I am focusing on making up for my shortcomings. I also try to reinforce many baseball elements rather than putting on a lot of weight unconditionally."
Kim Tae-hyun is a highly anticipated left-handed pitcher of the NC Dinosaurs. After graduating from Gimhae High School, he joined the NC Dinos as the first-round pick of the 2017 KBO League Rookie Draft. The first motive for the nomination at the time was Lee Jung-hoo (currently the San Francisco Giants), a major leaguer who was nominated by the Nexen Heroes (currently Kiwoom), and Choi Won-joon of the Doosan Bears.
He started slower than others in the draft. He struggled while realizing that he was a professional. He only posted an ERA of 7.20 in 10 innings in 11 games this year. In the Futures League, he also posted an ERA of 7.79 in 34 games, including six wins, three losses, five holds, one save and 32 ⅓. Prior to the 2024 season, he had high expectations that he would join Lim Jung-ho and Seo Ui-tae in the left-handed bullpen, but failed to meet expectations.
Kim Tae-hyun, who has looked back on the reasons for the sluggishness, explained, "I pursued my style to some extent because I had my own subjectivity until this year, but I thought I needed to change it now. I want to put down my subjective things and change a lot for new changes."
Lee has high expectations for Kim. He talked about things like, "I have to prepare well" during the offseason and "I have to do well next year." Kim is also well aware of the meaning of these words. "I am preparing well because I understand what they mean. Since it is in the (director's) plan, I will prepare well with that in mind," he said.
Currently, Lim Jung-ho is the only one in the NC bullpen who remains under an FA contract. Kim Young-kyu, a national pitcher, is considering switching to a starter, so Kim Tae-hyun's role to support Lim Jung-ho is important.
Regarding the upcoming 2025 season, Kim Tae-hyun said, "It would be nice to settle down from the beginning, but if not, I want to continue in the first team and help the team by playing many games and innings in any situation, whether it's the chasing team. If it gets better here, the goal is to contribute a lot to the team's victory, such as playing holds."