▲ Kim Seohyun ⓒ Kwak Hyemi
[SPOTV News = Reporter Choi Won-young] Kim Seohyun struggled again on the mound.
Hanwha Eagles right-handed closer Kim Seohyun (22) took the mound as the final reliever for the Hanwha Futures in their May 2 Futures League home game against the Doosan Bears at Seosan Baseball Stadium in Seosan, Chungnam. He allowed two hits and a walk, struck out two and surrendered three runs across two innings, throwing 26 pitches. The Futures lost 4-9.
Kim came on in the top of the eighth with his team down 2-6. He induced a ground ball to short from Kim Moon-su, struck out Lim Jong-seong looking and got Park Gye-beom to ground out to third for a clean 1-2-3 inning.
But in the ninth, after Hanwha had trimmed the deficit to 4-6, Kim unraveled. Park Min-jun opened with a single to left and Kim issued a straight walk to Jeon Da-min. Kim Jun-sang’s grounder to short became an infield hit, loading the bases with no outs. A wild pitch allowed the first run to score, making it 4-7, and a subsequent balk brought home another run to push it to 4-8. Kim then struck out Park Sung-jae swinging for the first out.
A sacrifice fly to right by Hong Seong-ho made it 4-9. Kim finally ended the inning on Kim Min-hyuk’s grounder to short. After a tidy eighth, the sudden late collapse made the outing especially disappointing.
▲ Kim Seohyun ⓒ Kwak Hyemi
Kim was the No. 1 overall pick by Hanwha in the 2023 draft. That year he appeared in 20 games, totaling 22 1/3 innings with one save and a 7.25 ERA. In 2024 he worked in 37 games (38 1/3 innings), posting a 1-2 record, 10 holds and a 3.76 ERA.
He moved into the closer role last year. During the regular season he appeared in 69 games, threw 66 innings, went 2-4 with two holds, 33 saves and a 3.14 ERA, finishing second in the league in saves. But he began to falter late in the season and carried that into the postseason: in the playoffs he allowed three runs in one inning across two appearances, posting a 27.00 ERA. In the Korean Series he pitched 2 2/3 innings over three games, surrendered three runs and finished with a 10.13 ERA and one win.
Kim opened this season well in spring action, appearing in five exhibition games and posting a 1.93 ERA across 4 2/3 innings with one win and one save.
▲ Kim Seohyun ⓒ Kwak Hyemi
Once the regular season started, he ran into trouble. In his second outing, on April 1 against the KT Wiz, he failed to record an out while allowing three hits, a walk and three runs. On April 14 versus the Samsung Lions he gave up one hit, issued six walks, hit a batter and allowed three runs in one inning, taking the loss. And on April 26 against the NC Dinos he lasted just one-third of an inning, surrendering a home run, a walk and two runs and taking another loss.
Through the start of the 2026 season, Kim’s line stood at 11 games, eight innings, a 1-2 record, one save and a 9.00 ERA.
Manager Kim Kyung-moon ultimately removed Kim from the first-team roster on April 27, sending him to the Futures with the hope he could rebuild both body and mind.
At the time, Kim said, “Given his experience last year, he should be able to get hitters out by now. He needs a weapon — either more velocity or better command — but right now he’s issuing too many walks. He hasn't shown up when we've needed him. We sent him down to the second team to give him time to prepare.”
After the demotion, Kim made his first appearance for the Futures on May 2 against Doosan. He’ll need to keep sharpening his stuff.
▲ Kim Seohyun ⓒ Hanwha Eagles
