Taekyeon Kim, ‘likely to be ranked 2nd’, has the best strikeout ability at the U-18 Baseball World Cup… 16K in 3 games, ‘No. 1 in strikeouts’

• user
• 0
• on Sep 08, 2023

Kim Taek-yeon (Incheon High School), who is ranked 1st and 2nd in the KBO League draft along with Hwang Jun-seo (Jangchung High School), is showing off his strikeout ability on the world stage playing for the U-18 national team.온라인바카라

Taekyeon Kim is ranked first in strikeouts at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Baseball World Cup (World Youth Baseball Championship) being held in Taiwan. 

Taekyeon Kim has 1 win in 3 games and an ERA of 1.05. He pitched 6⅔ innings and struck out 16 batters. In one inning, he counts out 3 outs and strikes out 2 of them. He is first in strikeouts as of the 7th with the Super Round in progress.

Gonzalez Perez (Puerto Rico) is in second place with 15 strikeouts in 9⅓ innings in 2 games. 3rd place has 4 players with 11 strikeouts. Kimura Yuto (Japan), Reyes Ulysis (Venezuela), Sun Yi-lei (Taiwan), and Zhang Junwei (Taiwan) are tied for third place. Hwang Jun-seo ranks 7th with 9 strikeouts in 7⅔ innings in 2 games.

Taek-yeon Kim took the mound in the 3rd inning against Taiwan on the 2nd when the team was down 1-3 with 1 out and runners on 1st and 3rd base, and extinguished the fire with a strikeout, a single, and a ground ball. He gave up 1 run after a timely hit with bases loaded and 1 out in the 4th inning, but overcame the crisis with consecutive strikeouts. He pitched three innings, allowing three hits, two walks, seven strikeouts, and one run. It was the only goal conceded in this tournament.

On the 4th, with a 3-0 lead against Australia, he took the mound as a relief pitcher with one out and two on second base in the 7th inning and earned the save by striking out two in a row. This tournament will be played over 7 innings.

Taekyeon Kim’s strikeout ability shined the most in the final group stage match against Puerto Rico, which resumed on the 7th as a suspended game. 

Korea was in crisis in the top of the first inning in the game against Puerto Rico that started on the 6th. Starting pitcher Park Ki-ho (Cheongju High School) was on the verge of having the bases loaded with consecutive hits and walks, and allowed the first run with a push-out walk with the bases loaded with one out. 

Afterwards, the game was stopped for a while due to heavy rain, and when it resumed, Taek-yeon Kim took the mound in crisis with one out and bases loaded. Kim Taek-yeon overcame a major crisis by striking out in succession. Korea fought back by scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the first inning, and Kim Taek-yeon finished the inning with 11 pitches in the second inning with a ground ball, strikeout, and fly ball.

Heavy rain fell again in the top of the third inning when Korea was ahead 5-1, and the game was suspended, but eventually it was declared suspended. 

In the game that resumed on the morning of the 7th, Kim Taek-yeon continued to throw. Kim Taek-yeon put the Puerto Rico batting lineup to rest by striking out three batters in a row with KKK in the third inning. His first batter in the 4th inning also struck out on a swing on 3 pitches. He was replaced after 40 pitches.

Kim Taek-yeon, who appeared on the mound for two consecutive days, became the winning pitcher with perfect pitching in 3 innings with no hits, no walks, no walks, and 7 strikeouts. Park Geon-woo (Chungam High School), who took the mound after Kim Taek-yeon, silenced the Puerto Rico batting lineup with 1 hit and 6 strikeouts in 3 innings, winning 8-1. 

The Korean national team recorded 4 wins and 1 loss in the group stage and advanced to the super round (round robin format) in second place in the group. After losing against Japan in the first game of the Super Round, Korea’s record in the Super Round was 1 win and 2 losses. They must win all remaining matches against the United States and the Netherlands to have a chance of advancing to the finals.