South Korean right-hander Kim Byung-hyun is struggling to find a demand among Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. / Korea Times File |
Unemployed Kim Keeps Neck Out for Next US Call
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
``Direct'' is not a word to describe Kim Byung-hyun, known for his fastball that lurks from the side and affection for long naps in hidden corners of the club house and laundry room.
Now with his Major League Baseball career pushed sideways, the sport's most famous (or infamous depending on one's point of view) sidewinder is struggling to draw a straight-line back to respectability.
Since released from the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates on March 25, the 29-year-old right-hander is without a job, with no major league club in a rush to sign a player who couldn't last more than a month with one of the league's worst teams.
With Kim's future in American baseball looking murky, South Korean teams have been throwing bait his way.
The Woori Heroes, the extension of the now-defunct Hyundai Unicorns, guaranteed Kim a richer contract than Kia Tigers' Choi Hee-seop, who left the Tampa Bay Rays to sign a 1.55 billion won ($1.55 million) contract with the Gwangju-based club last year.
However, Kim, whose skinny 1.79-meter frame hides a colossal ego, is intent on proving he can be successful in the United States again.
``I don't know what the Heroes want with me," said Kim in an interview with the local media.
``When I play baseball, it's important for me to be satisfied with myself, stay motivated and focus on learning and improving. I still think I can throw in the majors, and I don't think I will learn anything new (pitching in the Korean league)," he said.
Mysterious Decline
Kim played for three different teams in 2007 and went 10-8 with an ugly 6.08 ERA, becoming perhaps one of the most unconvincing 10-game winners of all time.
The Pirates had acquired Kim to be used exclusively in relief, a role that he thrived with the Arizona Diamondbacks at the start of his career. However, after Kim gave up eight runs in his first four innings in spring training, the Pirates wanted no business with him.
Kim posted an ERA below 5.00 only once since 2003, and that was a 5-12 season with a 4.87 ERA with the Colorado Rockies in 2005. Kim's extended spell of mediocrity makes it easy to forget that he was one of the nastiest pitchers in the National League at the start of the Millennium.
It's hard to explain how a player of Kim's talent witnessed his effectiveness to decline so sharply without any major injuries or off-field troubles.
Kim, who first pitched in the majors in 1999, was at the pinnacle of his game in 2002, when he posted 36 saves and a 2.04 ERA for the Diamondbacks, while striking out 92 batters in 84 innings.
Perhaps the planet's hardest-throwing submariner back in the day, Kim baffled hitters with a Frisbee-like fastball routinely clocked over 150kmph and a slider with a dramatic break, becoming the most unhittable pitcher on a team that had Randy Johnson at the back end of his prime.
However, Kim's stubborn insistence that he should be converted to a starting pitcher marked the start of his downfall.
After opening the following season 1-5 as a starter, the Diamondbacks traded Kim to the Boston Red Sox in midseason. This was the start of a disappointing two-year stay, remembered by Kim giving a one-finger salute to the rowdy fans at Fenway Park in 2003.
Released from the Red Sox before the 2005 season, Kim regressed as a journeyman, completing his transformation from being dominant to anonymous to unemployed in a span of less than five years.
Kim admits that part of the problem was ``mental."
``When I look back now, I believe that my quick success in the major league didn't help me develop as a player in the long term," Kim said.
``For me, it was more about enduring the tough times than it was about learning and improving and I regret that. My body is not as young now and I think I could have spent my time better in the past," he said.
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
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