Seoul: There were nights earlier this season when Kiwoom Heroes catcher Kim Gun-hee was so upset with himself that he couldn't even leave the stadium. After a quiet game at the plate, the 21-year-old catcher would sit by himself in the clubhouse at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul and ruminate over every pitch for hours. It got to a point where Kim even ended up sleeping inside the clubhouse.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Kim has recently turned his season around. He smoked his first career grand slam Thursday to help the Heroes to a 6-0 win over the SSG Landers, and called a superb game behind the dish for starter Raul Alcantara, who threw eight shutout innings. The Heroes have won their season-high four straight games.
With the big blast off Ginjiro Hiramoto, Kim has now hit three home runs in his past four games and has eight RBIs in that span. With four home runs for the season, Kim is on pace to shatter his career high of nine dingers from two years ago. But Kim said his primary job is to be the rock behind the plate for his pitching staff, and offense is of secondary concern for him.
"My coaches have told me any offense I can provide is a bonus, because I've been doing a great job defensively," Kim said. "And that's the kind of mindset I've taken. I think I am more relaxed now these days and I even sleep better at night."
Kim said he didn't realize the grand slam was the first of his career until his coaches informed him afterward. "I am just happy that I helped the team win," Kim said with a smile. "The vibe is unbelievable right now. Everyone is having a lot of fun."
As for working with Alcantara, Kim said he didn't do anything out of ordinary. "I just tried to react to what the hitters were doing," he said. "Of course, you would stick to whatever is working well for the pitcher on a given day. But then hitters may still hit those pitches. So I always try to see how hitters react to certain pitches and have my pitchers trust my signs."
After their four-game run, the Heroes, at 19-26-1 (wins-losses-ties) climbed out of last place for the first time since May 2. The Heroes have been the league's bottom feeders in each of the past three years, but they now find themselves just 3 1/2 games out of the final postseason spot. At this point a season ago, they were 13-33-0, nine games out of playoffs.
"We will absolutely play postseason baseball this year," Kim said. "That's our goal here and there's no reason why we can't do it. It doesn't have to be a championship. We just want to go play some meaningful baseball in the fall."