Erase 4.38 of Nightmare.
The KIA Tigers have finally formed its starting lineup after going through twists and turns. While recruiting foreign pitchers was the latest among the 10 teams, it is safe to say that the team was the first to confirm the starting lineup for the 2024 season. Few teams in the league have the three native starters as clear as KIA.
Kia has made great efforts to recruit crooks and nails. It has failed several times in recent years to recruit foreign pitchers. Shim Jae-hak, the team’s general manager, set up a scout team exclusively for foreign players in the offseason and managed it under his own control. He even said, “The foreign scout team had a hard time.”
In particular, the team meticulously examined his injury history. Coincidentally, a player who was about to be paired with Crowe was notified of his rejection in the medical test. As a result, it took some time to recruit his nails. On the other hand, Crowe had shoulder issues last year, but passed the medical test. KIA is confident that Crowe’s injury will not recur.
Crowe is basically a pitch-type right-hander. He mixes sliders, changeups, and sweeper with fastballs in the early 150km range. Sweeper is drawing keen attention. According to Baseball Servant, Crowe had a only 0.167 sweeper hit rate in five games he played in the Major League last year. The figure cannot be overlooked given that KBO league hitters are still struggling with sweeper hitters. On the contrary, if Crowe’s injury recur, KIA will suffer a setback.
Nail shot a maximum of 153 kilometers in the bullpen, and most of his recent Major League and Minor League career has been in the bullpen. His last starting career was in 2019, when he was in the Oakland Athletics’ minor league. He has to prepare for a full-time starter for the first time in a long time, so it remains to be seen if he will adjust well.
He is strong in his ball control. Over the past two years, Minor League teams have given up only 42 walks during a total of 132 ⅓ innings. During the period, he struck out 130. He enjoys pitching and curveball, but he also mixes changeups and cutters. Once he adjusts to the KBO League, he seems to have ample chance to become a difficult pitcher.
Yang Hyun-jong, Lee Eui-ri, and Yoon Young-chul are pitchers whose strengths and weaknesses are clear and proven. Yang should continue his upward trend in the second half of last year. Lee and Yoon are also expected to maximize their strengths in ball power and ball control, while preparing for ball control ups and downs and speed in their own way. 랭크카지노도메인
KIA failed to cultivate foreign pitchers in the 2023 season. It had the best indigenous starters in the league, but only ranked ninth with a 4.38 ERA. And only 738 innings did the starters play. It ranked seventh in the league. The sooner the starters were dismissed, and the more the bullpen continued throughout the season, the bigger the load. Manager Kim Jong-kook faced many difficulties in managing the mound.