Is youth painful.
KT Wiz rookie pitcher Park Ji-hoon (19) came in as a reliever in a 2026 KBO League exhibition game against the Kiwoom Heroes at Suwon KT Wiz Park on the 19th and became the losing pitcher after a rocky 2/3 innings in which he gave up six hits, four walks and eight earned runs.
Park Ji-hoon, with the team trailing 2-3, took the mound following Moon Yong-ik with two outs and a runner on second in the top of the seventh, got Park Han-gyeol to fly out to left field to escape the jam. And the lineup tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on Kim Hyun-soo's run-scoring double, setting up a 3-3 tie in the top of the eighth.
The top of the eighth was a nightmare. The problem started when he issued a straight four-ball walk to leadoff hitter Lee Hyeong-jong. With the next batter Ahn Chi-hong getting a single to left, he was suddenly facing runners at first and third with no outs, then he gave up a run-scoring double to pinch-hitter Seo Geon-chang and an RBI single to center to pinch-hitter Chu Jae-hyun in succession.
Making his pro debut this year, Park Ji-hoon had trouble settling down. He produced an infield hit to pinch-hitter Yang Hyun-jong and then issued a walk to Park Ju-hong, creating a bases-loaded crisis, and even after getting ahead in the count 0-2 against pinch-hitter Kim Tae-jin, he ultimately gave up a two-run single to center after a full count.
Park Ji-hoon breathed a sigh of relief when he got Kim Jae-hyun on an infield fly to second base. But the bases-loaded danger continued after pinch-hitter Oh Seon-jin's single to right, and he reluctantly handed the mound over to Jang Min-ho after issuing consecutive bases-loaded walks to Lee Hyeong-jong and Ahn Chi-hong. He threw 51 pitches. Jang Min-ho conceded home on a wild pitch to Seo Geon-chang's plate appearance, and Park Ji-hoon's final earned runs were recorded as eight.
Park Ji-hoon graduated from Jeonju High School and was honored to be selected by KT with the sixth pick in the first round of the 2026 rookie draft. He signed a formal contract with a signing bonus of 260 million won, and after showing potential at last year's closing camp he joined the major-league spring camp, preparing for his debut season under the watch of manager Lee Kang-cheol.
Park Ji-hoon is a right-handed fireballer who throws a top fastball of 153 km/h. He drew attention by quickly mastering the kick changeup used by last year's professional baseball MVP Cody Ponce (Toronto Blue Jays).
His exhibition start also began brightly. He had a successful debut on the 13th at Sajik against the Lotte Giants, throwing one inning with one walk, one strikeout and no runs, and on the 16th in Suwon he shut down the defending champion LG Twins with a perfect one-inning, one-strikeout, no-run performance. Expectations were high for his third appearance, but the first trial came for the first-rounder who had dominated in his amateur days.
At the Geelong spring camp in Australia, Park Ji-hoon named two-time National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes (Pittsburgh Pirates) as his role model and said, "My goal is to become an innings eater like Skenes in the future." Although he realized the high wall of the pros after only three exhibition games, that game is likely to become a major source of nourishment for achieving his goal.
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