"Honestly, no one feels good. That's why I didn't watch the Korean Series. I was angry and a little angry when I won the championship."
Kia Tigers' sidearm pitcher Lim Ki-young (31) spent a very regrettable season on his own this year. He really prepared hard last winter for the season as a preliminary FA. He seemed full of confidence as he had the best season of his career with four wins, 16 holds, three saves, 82 innings and an ERA of 2.96 in 64 appearances in the 2023 season.
However, right after the season's opening, he left the mound due to fine damage to his left oblique muscles, which caused disruptions in all plans. For now, he couldn't throw the ball properly on the mound, and as he kept trying to build himself up, he got upset. For this reason, he only had 37 games, six wins and two losses, two holds, 45 ⅔ innings and an ERA of 6.31.
Lim Ki-young said, "The biggest thing I got hurt as soon as I started was the biggest. I tried to build up my body quickly, but it took a little longer time, and when I came to the first team, I started and threw a bullpen, so I think it was a little difficult in that process. In fact, such an excuse is an excuse. I wish I had done well in such a situation, but what I didn't do well is the biggest thing," looking back on this year calmly.
The ABS (automatic ball determination system) newly introduced by KBO was also an obstacle for Lim. Lim is a player who mainly targets low strike zones, and the strike zone set by ABS has generally been judged to be advantageous for players who target high places.
Lim Ki-young said, "It was definitely affected by ABS. Because I'm the type to throw low in a way, but I didn't catch such a ball, so there were many on-base hits on the opponent's batters. In the meantime, there were many cases where (I) was driven more."
Due to such pain and suffering, the team was eliminated from the entry list for the Korean Series. KIA had a toast when it won its 12th championship this year, but Lim had no choice but to watch from a distance even in the same team's uniform as his teammates. Eventually, Lim did not see this year's Korean Series game because he felt so bad for himself.
"Honestly, no one feels good when I am excluded from the entry. That's why I didn't watch the Korean Series. When I won the championship, I felt a lot of anger, and I was angry. So I just thought that I should show better performance next year," Lim said, reflecting on the pain and suffering of losing the Korean Series.
It was the worst season overall, but Lim exercised his right to become a free agent this year. As the season was sluggish, he had a lot of worries until right before he applied for the free agent. A day before he applied for the free agent, Lim met with Kia Tigers general manager Shim Jae-hak and held an hour-long meeting, where he strongly appealed, "I want to stay at Kia."
General manager Shim urged Lim Ki-young to "catch him somehow" and completed the FA contract on the 21st as promised. 안전놀이터 Lim Ki-young signed a total of 1.5 billion won with KIA, including a three-year contract period, 300 million won in down payment, 900 million won in annual salary, and 300 million won in options. It took a little more than a month to reach an agreement due to disagreements in the amount, but Lim Ki-young signed the contract without being greedy to admit his poor performance this year.