"Throw a fastball more than 150 kilometers per hour."
It is a phrase that penetrates the rookie draft. This is especially true in recent years. The number of 150km pitchers, which was one or two a decade ago, is now well over double digits. The 2025 rookie draft held on the 11th was the same. The official 150km match was more than 15 people, and the unofficial 150km match was more than 20.
The problem lies in the nomination process. The ball that he threw in high school disappears when he becomes a professional. There is a big difference between playing games once a week and preparing for actual games every day. There are also quite a few confusion in the process of making physical body suitable for professional player.
One needs to look no further than the 2024 rookie draft picks. Most of the pitchers selected in the first round threw more than 150 kilometers when they were in high school. However, Doosan Bears' Kim Taek-yeon is the only pitcher who constantly throws 150 kilometers. Of course, the wall of professional baseball is high. Clubs also plan to nurture players for at least three years or at most five years. Still, if the team suffers from decreased arrest after the nomination, an emergency bell will ring in the second division.
He is not obsessed with speed anymore. He focuses on speed per minute and movement through pitching mechanism and tracking data, rather than on speed. Recalling the player's history, he draws a blueprint after the nomination.
This is true of Kim Tae-hyun, a left-handed pitcher of Gwangju Jeil High School who Lotte named as the fourth overall pick. Although he is not a 150-kilometer pitcher, he saw completeness and safety. The maximum speed on the high school stage is 147 kilometers, but he paid attention to Kim Tae-hyun's stable mechanism. And he paid attention to exceptional RPM and vertical movement. We hope that Kim Tae-hyun will become a new pillar in Lotte's starting lineup, which lacks native left hands.
A Lotte official said of Kim Tae-hyun, "He is born with rotation speed and movement. He does not teach. He also complies with commands. He judged that he is suitable as a starter because he already plays three sliders, curve splitter, and fastball. As revealed by his pitching form, he has good flexibility and is considered a player who will continue to improve."
The average speed of his pitches, not his maximum speed, has also increased. The average speed of his pitches, 145 kilometers, is set higher than the so-called 150-kilometer dip. "The maximum speed of his pitches is 150 kilometers, which is a lot. In the end, the key is where he puts his weight," said a scout for a team from the Seoul metropolitan area. "In our team, we put high weight on tracking data and average speed of his pitches. Jung Woo-joo and Kim Young-woo are the only pitchers on average at 150 kilometers in this draft. There are only two pitchers who can be called fire bowlers."
Some teams put their maximum ball speed at the bottom of the evaluation list. Team B in the Seoul metropolitan area believes that it is more difficult to control than to improve ball speed. "Of the 100 fastball pitchers, less than 10 are expected to improve their ball control," a source from Team B said. "This is why we pay attention to the mechanism. When pitching, we check how constant the rotation of the arm and the hitting point of the ball are. If the mechanism is not constant even if the ball is thrown 150 kilometers, it will be excluded from the designation list."
Thus, the big board for the 2025 Rookie Draft has been completed. A total of 110 players will wear professional uniforms from the 1st to 11th rounds. Depending on the scouting point of view, 안전놀이터 quite a few pitchers have been selected in the lower round even if they throw 150 kilometers. Left-handed pitcher Ko Young-woong of Dongwon University was selected by LG as the 100th overall pick in the 10th round despite throwing 150 kilometers. How much the team fills the inner room will determine the fate of the team and its players.