Doosan Bears' Kim Taek-yeon delivered her physical condition in an interview after winning the Real Glove Reliever Award at the "2024 Com2us Professional Baseball Real Glove Award" held at Grand Hyatt Hotel Seoul in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 1st.안전놀이터

Kim Taek-yeon, who played brilliantly in the WBSC World Youth Baseball Championship (U-18), was selected by Doosan as the second overall pick in the first round of the rookie draft last year. Doosan showed such high expectations that it paid 350 million won in down payment, and this choice was not wrong.

During the spring camp, Kim Taek-yeon took the mound in a special game with the first team of the Softbank Hawks, and showed a clean pitching with fastballs. After the game, Kim Taek-yeon, who won the Pacific League's home run king this year, was wearing Doosan's uniform and wearing the national flag once again even before the regular season, and LA Dodgers manager Dave Roberts praised him a lot this time.

Contrary to expectations, however, the team has not had a good start to the season. In her first appearance against the NC Dinos, Kim gave up two runs (two earned runs) to start the season disappointedly, and in her second appearance since then, Kim had a 7.71 ERA in three games in March, suffering from difficulties in controlling the ball. As a result, Doosan drastically lowered Kim to the second team to provide time for reorganization, while Kim returned to the first team in mid-April has completely changed.

In eight games in April, Kim displayed impressive performance with a 1.93 ERA with one win and one hold, while continuing his good performance with a 3.29 ERA with one win and two holds and one save in 13 games in May. He then succeeded in securing the finishing position from June, and continued his winning streak. However, Doosan fans were not as happy as ever. Because Kim was so good, he started to play more games and innings than expected.

Nevertheless, Kim Taek-yeon took the mound in 60 games (65 innings) this year, leaving a formidable record of 3 wins, 2 losses, 4 holds, 19 saves, and an ERA of 2.08, and while away, she also joined the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 national team and returned with valuable experience. And after being named the "New In King" on the 26th of last month, she enjoyed the joy of being selected as the best relief pitcher selected by the players on the 1st.

Kim Taek-yeon, who met with reporters after the awards ceremony, said, "I feel good. I don't think I received it on my own. I'm spending every day with a grateful heart to those who helped me a lot." "It's very meaningful because the award was picked by seniors who play baseball together. After receiving it once, I want to receive it again next year," he said.

In the process, she was asked about her physical condition. She has been at the center of controversy over overwork since she was an amateur, and had a hectic year this year, including the regular season, by wearing the national flag twice. Although she did not express her physical condition, she must have been worried about her. However, she said she has no problem.

Kim Taek-yeon said, "I did a medical test, and the results came out okay. Actually, I was worried about medical care, but fortunately, I came out okay. I don't have any burden on my mind. I plan to play the off-season the way I thought and where I talked with the coach as planned. I will prepare properly this year for things that I couldn't do properly last winter because I was sick and rested."

Even if there are no physical problems, we cannot guarantee the next year's performance. This is because most players have the "second-year jinx" that they tend to get used to. When the analysis of players' performance progresses, batters naturally become more accustomed to Kim's ball. "I don't think there will be no jinx in the second year," Kim said. "However, rather than jinx, I plan to prepare well so that bad days don't last long. We need to prepare for when we feel like we can't. Rather than being disappointed that we didn't play a single game, we will show better performance in the next game."

Despite not having a full off-season due to an injury last winter, Kim Taek-yeon left an impact strong enough to win the Rookie of the Year title this year. As no problems were found in medical tests, Kim Taek-yeon in the 2025 season is expected to be scarier than this year when she spent the off-season steadily.