San Diego Padres Win Posting for Gwang-hyun Kim
The first posting fee of the off-season has been accepted, and it is not for Kenta Maeda. Kwang-hyun Kim, or Gwang-hyun Kim depending on which outlet you go to, was posted by his Korean team, SK Wyverns. The San Diego Padres posted the highest bid and are now able to negotiate a contract with Kim.
Kim is a 6’2”, 176 lbs. left handed pitcher who will be just 26 come opening day of 2015. He has three All-Star game appearances in Korea and was the 2008 MVP and even has a gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the last featuring baseball.
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Kim has a high leg kick and a very high arm slot, giving a good downhill plane on his fastball. As a starter, his fastball sits 88-91 MPH but has been clocked up to 95, which should be more common as he is unlikely to stick in a rotation once he comes to the states. His control is a massive problem, as he throws less than half his pitches in the strike zone.
His best pitch is his slider, which sits in the low-80s but has both left-to-right break to go with vertical drop. The slider can probably play as a plus pitch in the big leagues once he gets there, but the question is whether or not he starts on the big league roster.
The final contract still needs to be agreed to, but one can safely assume Kim will be added to the 40-man roster once signed if the Padres want to keep him from staying in Korea or leveraging a deal to go to Japan instead. He could be a late-inning lefty specialist who can improve into a late inning guy that can pitch full innings if his control improves. I have not seen any video of a third pitch, so a rotation spot is quite unlikely.
He will have to battle for a job come Spring, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see him open the season at Double-A or Triple-A.