Hanwha Eagles leadoff Kim Tae-yeon (28) continued to play in exhibition games during the regular season. Notably, even foreign ace pitchers who were selected as the starting pitcher due to his unique batting eye and persistent batting approach were fed up.
"Kim Tae-yeon, who was the leadoff hitter at Hanwha, was a tricky hitter," said Enmanuel de Heysus, who was the starting pitcher for KT Wiz in Suwon on Sunday ahead of the regular season home game of the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League against Hanwha. "He made me throw a lot of balls, making me throw a lot of foul balls in both my first and second at bat. He (Kim Tae-yeon) was the one who stressed me the most on the mound."
In the opening game against Hanwha on the 22nd, Heysus pitched well with quality start (more than six innings and less than three earned runs) by allowing two hits, two walks and seven strikeouts in six innings (94 pitches), but failed to secure victory. He threw fastballs (57 pitches), sliders (18 pitches), changeups (13 pitches), two-seam fastballs (4 pitches) and curves (2 pitches) on fastballs with a maximum speed of 153 kilometers per hour, inducing 10 swings and misses.
However, she struggled more than ever in matches with Kim. At her first at bat in the top of the first inning against Haesus, Kim was out after hitting eight pitches to center field. At the top of the third inning, she picked up 10 pitches and kicked out, before hitting a timely RBI single to left field. At the top of the seventh inning, she walked to the ball that hit her by the changed pitcher, Won Sang-hyun, and succeeded in getting multiple on-base hits.
The fact that Hanwha had anticipated a lot of on-base hits and making opposing pitchers throw many balls was the leadoff itself. Hanwha manager Kim Kyung-moon also lowered the passing score. "For the time being, (Kim) Tae-yeon will be the first hitter. It's good for the first hitter to hit at bat, but it will help the team if the opposing pitcher allows such a lot of balls as Taeyeon did yesterday (23rd). I will not keep changing the batting order during the season so that the players can hit comfortably," Kim said.
Kim Tae-yeon met those expectations again on Sunday. Starting as the first batter and left fielder, Kim had two hits, one run and one strikeout from four times at bat. At the first two times at bat, he was out after hitting a fly ball to the left field and striking out. However, as the leadoff hitter in the sixth inning, he finally hit William Cuevas' slider to get on the base, which laid the groundwork for his team to catch up. His batting performance at 0B2S was impressive. After watching Cuevas' cutter and slider, Kim lowered his posture again to technically touch the ball that was falling low, and got on the base with a hit to the left field. Later, he made it 3-4 by hitting home when Moon Hyun-bin had a walk and Roh Si-hwan had a hit to the center field.
At bat in the top of the eighth inning also targeted a slider. As the leadoff batter, Kim picked out a slider at the first pitch that was falling low, but the slider that was flat at the third pitch was pulled to make a multi-hitter. With this result, Kim's on-base hit rate of 0.429, or three hits in seven times at bat, and his on-base hit rate of 0.500.
It seems that the exhibition games continue to play. Kim Tae-yeon showed the best performance in seven exhibition games this year with a 0.385 batting average (5 hits in 13 at-bats) and an on-base percentage of 0.579. In recognition of his performance, he took the leadoff position in the main game even though he had only 18 stolen bases since his debut in the first team in 2017. 안전놀이터
He has shown some improvement in defense in the outfield, and is gradually becoming a player worthy of his starting position. In the scene where he missed a foul hit by Chun Sung-ho with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, MBC Sports Plus commentator Jung Min-cheol praised Kim Tae-yeon, saying, "He doesn't look fast, but he has a good start in chasing after the hit."
Head coach Kim Kyung-moon is famous for his hard-working baseball, which puts his worries fiercely, but trusts his players until the end once he decides. In other words, Kim Tae-yeon can keep his main position until the end of the season if he continues his current performance and performance without being somewhat sluggish.
Since the transfer of Jung Geun-woo and Lee Yong-kyu, Hanwha has been agonizing over the leadoff position for a while. The number of players who played in more than 70 games as the first hitter has changed significantly to 90 games for Mike Turkman in 2022.
Kim Tae-yeon, who joined Hanwha as 59th in the second round of the KBO Rookie Draft in 2016, has also been on the defensive for a long time, showing question marks. However, he is gradually gaining experience in the outfield, and his strength, Seon Seon-an, is shining in the lead-off position. Fans are paying attention to whether Kim Tae-yeon, whose nickname is "Tanggu" with the same name as a member of a famous girl group, will be able to keep Hanwha's No. 1 hitter until the end of the season.