He played second base again this season. His defense based on fast feet and unique sense remained solid as ever. On top of that, he played in 137 games and recorded a batting average of 335, seven homers and 25 stolen bases, further improving his batting performance. Although he failed to play in the league with 100 percent of his performance due to the Hangzhou Asian Games in late September and early October, he ranked second in the most hits category with one gap versus Son Ah-seop (NC, 187).
Kim Hye-sung won the Golden Glove Award in the second baseman category with 89 percent of 291 votes (259 votes). Kim will be wearing the golden glove for the third consecutive year.
Kim Hye-sung said with a smile, “It feels new every year. I thought I would get used to it, but when I went to an award ceremony, I became younger.”
Kim Hye-sung will be eligible to apply for posting after the end of next season. While Lee Jung-hoo, who joined the club, is pushing for a major league contract after this season, Kim Hye-sung also cautiously expressed his intention to challenge to the Major League.
Kim Hye-sung expressed his desire to play shortstop for the Major League challenge.
Although Kim Hye-sung won the Golden Glove in 2021, there was a “failure aftermath” in Kim Hye-sung’s move to second base. Kim Hye-sung recorded a total of 35 errors in 2021. Of these, 29 errors were recorded as shortstop. In particular, as he continued to be disappointed in the throwing category, the second baseman turned around.
It was not a matter of skill. “Kim Hye-sung plays fast and powerful because he has good grit. As a result, the timing of his pitches sometimes collapsed, which led to errors due to his inability to balance throwing,” coach Kim Il-kyung said. “As I moved to second base, I was able to concentrate on my pitches and thus improved my pitching balance as well.”
Kim Hye-sung also cited reducing errors as his first task to challenge shortstop. “We need to reduce mistakes. Defending is the most important thing in shortstop. Mistakes are not good, so I think we need to reduce those mistakes,” Kim said.
She expressed her desire for the position of shortstop, but this does not mean that she is stubborn enough to sway the overall plan of the team. “This is not something that I can do as I please. I will prepare hard and leave it to the heaven,” Kim said. “I think this is a homework that needs to be solved well.”
“I hope that you don’t get injured and do better than me this year, so that you can finish the season by improving to the next level,” Kim said. “My goal is to do better than me this year (in the next year) rather than to challenge myself to the Major League. I think that only when I achieve that goal, I will be able to challenge myself to the Major League.”