When Joseph Kim was 10-years-old, he won a home run derby, sealing his commitment to baseball. Now the Diamond Bar High School senior is a vital part of the school’s varsity baseball team.

From an early age, he found that hitting a baseball came naturally to him and he has built on his skills since then.

Prior to joining the DBHS team in his junior year, Kim played for SGV Arsenal in West Covina during summers.

“Honestly it was just fun, I guess it was just kind of wanting to be around a game. Everyone wants to get a scholarship and everything, but, ultimately I just want to play baseball to have fun,” Kim said.

Last October, Kim was accepted into one of the country’s largest baseball tournaments, the WWVA World Championships, held in Florida.

“‘I made an all tournament team for the biggest tournament in October, which was WWVA World Championships…I think that was one of the things I was really proud of,” Kim said.

Throughout his years as a player, Kim has faced the difficulty of balancing academic work and baseball, and struggled especially in his sophomore year. On the field, Kim found his weak spot in throwing.

“I don’t allow myself to really do baseball stuff unless I finish all my work and make sure that I’m caught up…it’s OK to fail, you learn from it and don’t make the same mistake again,” Kim said.

Along with  daily team practices, he works on his hitting two to three times a week on his own. Recently, he faced the challenge of taking on the lead-off spot in the Brahma lineup.

After senior hitter Keola Viloria suffered an injury, Kim, who previously batted third, was shifted to the position of lead-off hitter.

Since then, the first baseman has been a crucial part of the team’s past few successes.

He leads the team with hits, RBI and batting average. Kim attributes part of his recent success to the team’s chemistry and growing bond.

“[Joseph] has been incredibly important this year. He’s been probably, if not one of the most important bats in our lineup, the most important bats in our lineup… he’s done a good job stepping up. Without him, we’d be doing far worse than what we really are,” head coach Jonathan Hurst said.

Kim has recently made the decision to commit to Azusa Pacific University as a business major and to continue his journey with baseball.

“As of right now, I’m gonna go to APU to play baseball there. There’s a good baseball program and their strength in the major for me at least is business, so that’s why I chose to go there, and it’s also staying close to home,” Kim said.