After coming to Korea, he has laid the groundwork for a turnaround in his life. Ryan Weiss (28), a foreign pitcher of the Hanwha Eagles who played in the final game of this season, has successfully finished his pitching, further raising the possibility of renewing his contract next season.
Weiss led Hanwha to an 8-0 complete victory against Daejeon KIA on the 27th with a quality start with six innings of three hits, no outs, and no outs. Although it was the KIA lineup without a large number of key players, he finished with a clean pitch in his last appearance of the season.
Weiss, who boldly went head-to-head against KIA Kim Do-young, who had only two homers left in the 40-40 milestone, and stopped him with no hits in three times at bat, quickly erased the inning with an aggressive pitch. It was the only crisis of scoring rights to allow Choi Won-joon to double after two outs in the sixth inning, and he grounded out the next batter Yoon Do-hyun to third and finished the game without a run.
With a total of 82 pitches, he used curves (26), sweeper (13), and folk ball (2), centering on fastballs (41) of up to 153 kilometers per hour and 151 kilometers per hour on average. He displayed powerful fastballs that fell from 193 centimeters tall, powerful curves, and sweepers. He targeted batters with two sweepers that made wide curves toward left-handed hitters or entered the outer back door.
After the game, Weiss said, “I’m glad my team won. It’s been a long season this year, but I’m glad we finished it off in a good mood,” adding, “We were a little sluggish in September, but I think it was okay this season as a whole. It would have been nice if I could have pitched better and the team could have played in the postseason, but overall, I’m satisfied. I want to give credit to catcher Choi Jae-hoon. Without his lead, I wouldn’t be able to throw like this.”
Weiss, who joined Ricardo Sanchez as a substitute for his injury in June, was a six-week temporary job. Expectations were not very high at first because he had no major league experience and pitched in the U.S. independent league before coming to Korea. It seemed that he would only fill the six-week period, but he announced an unusual start by winning six innings, four hits, two walks, seven strikeouts and no runs against Doosan in Daejeon on June 25, his debut.
Since then, Sanchez’s recovery from elbow injury has been slow, and Hanwha signed a formal contract at the end of July as Weiss showed faster adaptability than expected. As his status stabilized, Weiss’ ball improved, and he became the team’s first starter since the summer of August. In the match against Munhak SSG on August 16, he was powerful with the most 12 strikeouts in a single game of Hanwha’s foreign pitcher history.
His overall performances during this season were five wins and five losses with an earned run average of 3.73 strikeouts and 98 in 16 games (91 ⅔ innings). He pitched five ⅔ innings per game, and displayed consistent pitching capability and stability with 11 quality starts. His status has changed so much that not only other teams in the KBO league but also Japan and the U.S. put Weiss on the list of scouts. Weiss, who pitched in the U.S. independent league, came to Korea and laid the groundwork for his turnaround in his life after four months.
He has become a player that Hanwha cannot afford to miss. He has adapted to the KBO League this year and is only 28 years old, so he has a chance to grow further in the future. Weiss is also satisfied with his life in Korea with his wife.
“I came here on a six-week contract at first, but thanks to the support of so many Hanwha fans, I was able to throw the ball well until the end,” Weiss said. “The fans of the Hanwha Eagles are really the best. I want to thank them,” he said. “Me and my wife are very happy with our life in Korea. That’s why I was able to get a better performance. I am satisfied with every aspect of my life in Korea. I am so grateful and blessed to be here right now.” 메이저놀이터
On whether to renew the contract next year, however, he declined to comment, saying, “We still have two more games to play. I think renewing the contract is an issue that needs to be considered after the season is over.” Some players strongly appeal to renew the contract at this time of the year, but Weiss is giving a theoretical answer. After the season is over, Weiss could have many options. He will likely decide on his next move after careful consideration.