His velocity is up, his pitches show movement, but he's lapsed into the solitude that troubled him -- and his teammates -- last year.

01:00 AM EST on Monday, March 21, 2005

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

BRADENTON, Fla. -- For the first time in exactly two weeks, Byung-Hyun Kim took the mound in an exhibition game yesterday and, for the most part, the Red Sox were encouraged by what they saw.

Sidelined for a stretch with a bad bout of the flu, Kim pitched the fifth inning for the Sox against the Pittsburgh Pirates and other than hitting Matt Lawton with two outs, was effective. He retired Humberto Cota on a fly to center, got pinch-hitter Daryle Wardon a liner to right and, after he hit Lawton, struck out former Sox prospect Freddie Sanchez.

Scouts behind home plate had Kim's fastball topping out at 86 mph -- still below-average, but better than last season when his velocity dropped into the low 80s. He threw some quality sliders to Sanchez and his pitches showed generally good movement.

"I thought his stuff was pretty good," pitching coach Dave Wallace said after the 5-3 loss to the Pirates. "I thought it was encouraging. He's throwing the ball better than he was at this point a year ago."

Manager Terry Francona, who was less generous in his overall praise, rated Kim's outing as "OK" and said "his ball had some life."

But as Kim attempts to re-establish himself as an effective major-league pitcher, his progress can't be measured solely by the radar gun or even opposing hitters.

Kim must also mature as a person and Doug Mirabelli, who caught him yesterday, strongly hinted that Kim still has a long way to go.

The pitcher from Korea alienated himself from teammates almost from the time he joined the Red Sox in May of 2003, remaining aloof from the rest of the team, insisting on his own (at times bizarre) training methods and generally operating as a freelancer.

Mystified by his drop in velocity last season, the Sox removed him from the rotation after just three starts. Kim spent most of the rest of the season in Pawtucket before rejoining the Sox when rosters expanded in September. Several veteran players had privately made it known to management that Kim wouldn't be welcome in the clubhouse and the pitcher, at the club's urging, made a brief apologetic address to teammates in Yankee Stadium last September.

But Kim has seemingly lapsed into bad habits again this spring. Asked if he got a sense that Kim was striving to be a better teammate this spring, Mirabelli shook his head.

"I don't get a sense of anything from him," he said. "You don't get a sense for what he's feeling. I have no idea. He stays in his own world. I don't know if he gets the concept of (being) a teammate or if he grasps that. I don't know if it's a knock against him that he doesn't grasp that, but people have tried to help him out. You've got to give him some leeway for [the] language (barrier), but at some point [you realize] he does speak more than he lets on. So at that point, you start to think he's making that choice."

Though Red Sox management has expressed a hope that Kim's teammates would reach out to the pitcher more, attempting to bridge the gap, Mirbelli indicated those efforts have been fruitless.

"He stays in his own little world," Mirabelli said. "That's where he's comfortable, but when you're dealing with a team, you've got to open up a little bit and try to be a part of that. I don't think he's receptive to that. I don't know if he goes out and tries to be the way he is. He's very introverted. But at the same time, he hasn't taken the steps to try not to be.

"And it's not just me. As long as I can get something positive from him [I'll keep attempting to forge a bond], but if there's nothing positive and he's not even trying, how am I supposed to try?"

Mirabelli suggested that Kim's struggles on the mound last year were made worse by his solitary nature.

"What happens when you're a good teammate," he said, "(is that) when you go through tough times, your team's behind you and supports you and helps you get through that. When he goes through tough times, he doesn't have anybody to lean on. You try to reach out early on, and try to get some kind of feedback, but he doesn't really give a lot of feedback.

"Everybody here is willing to be a good teammate. Everybody's a good teammate to each other. Why wouldn't we be a good teammate to him? We're not segregating him out of anything. He's choosing to be over there. That's his choice, not ours. It's his choice if he wants to be an effective member of the team. You can make that choice. He just doesn't. At some time, you've got to stop giving him the benefit of the doubt [with the language barrier]. We've got an interpreter and people who can communicate that to him."

Thanks to his $6-million salary this season, Kim is expected to open the season with the club. The Sox would love to find a team to take him, but have decided that he will be moved only if another team offers something meaningful in return, or willingly assumes the bulk of his salary. To date, the Mets, Colorado Rockies and Oakland A's have expressed varying degrees of interest, but no suitable deal has been proposed.

For now, the Sox are looking to get some sort of return on their hefty investment.

"He'll fill in innings," said Wallace. "That's an important part of what we're trying to do."

But as Kim has repeatedly shown, being a part of anything can be difficult for him.