Right-handed pitcher Kim Geon-guk (35), who was released from Lotte after the 2021 season, will make a fresh start at KIA after a one-year hiatus.
On the 11th, KIA announced the recruitment of three released players. Along with pitcher Kim Seung-hyeon, who was released from Samsung after last year’s season, and infielder Kim Yong-wan, who was released from Lotte, there was also Kim Kon-guk.
Kim Kon-guk is a player with a one-year hiatus. After he was released from Lotte, he spent close to a year in individual training without a team. All he had to do was to pitch in real-time as a member of Busan Metropolitan City in the city-and-province baseball tournament held by the Korea Baseball Softball Association (KBSA) in October and November of last year.
At that time, the competition drew attention as a large number of retired professional players participated. One of them, Kim Geon-guk, led the city of Busan to runner-up. Afterwards, he returned to the pros after going through a KIA joining test. 카지노사이트
On this day, Kim Kon-guk said through his SNS, “Greetings in a year. He hasn’t said the word retirement until now, but I’m so grateful that I can put it off later.”
He continued, “Thank you so much to the Lotte fans who have been watching over us. I really wanted to play baseball. I will work harder. We ask for your support.”
Kim Geon-guk, who was nominated by Doosan in the 6th overall in the 2nd round of the 2nd round in 2006, moved to NC, KT and Lotte through the independent baseball team Goyang Wonders after being released. After coming to Lotte through the 2nd draft and trade, he made his name known to the first team.
In particular, in 2019, he appeared in 37 individual games (5 starts), pitched 66⅔ innings, and played an active role with an average ERA of 4.46 with 3 wins, 3 losses and 3 holds. His career performance in his 5 professional seasons was 7 wins, 5 losses, 4 holds, 4.57 earned run average and 100 strikeouts in 88 games (132 innings).
Despite his one-year hiatus, he threw up to 145 km, and KIA recruited Kim Geon-guk to reinforce bullpen depth.