KIA Tigers will seal the top spot in the regular season by recruiting temporary replacement foreign players.
An official from the KIA team said in a phone call with Star News on the 27th that it is “positively considering” the recruitment of Eric Stout (31, Zhongxin Brothers) through the Taiwanese media.
Earlier, CPBL STATS, which reported the news of the Taiwan Professional Baseball (CPBL), said, “The Jungshin Brothers announced that they have signed a stout contract with the KBO team,” adding, “According to Liberty Sports and ET Today, the unidentified KBO team is known to be the KIA Tigers.”
Recently, Kia has created an irreplaceable gap in its starting rotation. James Nail (31), who played as a foreign ace this season, has been ruled out for the regular season. Nail was a pitcher who sustained 12 wins and 5 losses with an ERA of 2.53 and 138 strikeouts in 149 ⅓ innings in 26 games despite frequent injuries and sluggish performances by Kia’s starting pitchers.
At the end of the sixth inning against the Changwon NC Dinos on the 24th, he was hit on the chin by Matt Davidson’s training ball and was found to have a broken jaw joint. After that, Nail immediately moved to Asan Medical Center in Seoul with a team official and underwent a jaw joint fixation. Rehabilitation is expected to be at least a month.
Kia is considering practical ways, while providing assistance from both perspectives, such as allowing its family members to come to Korea for faster recovery of their nails. At the end of the game on Friday, Kia ranks first with 72 wins, two draws and 48 losses, 5.5 games behind the second-ranked Samsung Lions (67 wins, two draws and 54 losses). With 22 games to go until the end of the regular season, it is not easy to overturn the 5.5-game gap. 메이저놀이터
Even if a substitute player is hired now, a new foreign player can play only up to four games during the regular season after the registration period for the post-season has passed. However, Kia believes that as only one player among its starting pitchers is expected to display a certain level of performance, it will not let its guard down until the end. While playing 149 innings during 25 games, Yang displayed compliance with 10 wins, 3 losses and an ERA of 3.87.
On the other hand, Eric Lauer, who joined the team most recently, has yet to adapt to the KBO league with one win and one loss and a 6.08 ERA in three games. Right-hander Young-gun Hwang Dong-ha has also grown into a player to entrust about five innings since joining the rotation in May, but anxiety remains as shown by the six runs (four earned runs) in four ⅓ against Changwon NC on the 25th.
Due to the lack of absolute manpower, the team plans to fill one of the remaining two spots with right-hander Kim Do-hyun, who often played as a substitute starter. Kim did not have satisfactory performance with two wins, two losses and an earned run average of 6.14 in six starting games this season, but he also showed good performance, such as five scoreless innings against KT Wiz on Sunday.
Kia Tigers’ bid to recruit Stout was necessary even if it was to make the best use of the nail in the future. According to Shim Jae-hak, who recently visited Asan Medical Center, Nail expressed strong commitment to return to the team within the post season by shedding tears at the video of her fellow players wishing for recovery. Realistically, however, considering the injury and timing of the nail, however fast it can be, it is the Korean Series.
For Kia, the best scenario is to directly move to the Korean Series to earn time and wait for Nail to return to the mound. Of course, Kia has its batting average and OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) first. Considering the batting cycle and tight post-season schedule, however, Kia is anxious about a single series as it has no starting pitcher other than Yang.
If the recruitment rumor becomes a reality, Stout is the best option for Kia to choose from at this point in time. Stout played in the CPBL this season with 10 wins and 5 losses with a 2.77 ERA in 20 games, 109 strikeouts in 113 ⅔ innings, and 1.16 WHIP (per-inning allowed rate). He entered the Taiwanese pro baseball league for the first time last year as a left-hander whose strength is the fastball and sweeper with an average speed of 92.1 miles per hour.
He played for the Kansas City Royals, the Cincinnati Reds, the Miami Marlins, the Chicago Cubs, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Seattle Mariners. His overall big league record is 7.30 ERA in 23 games without winning or losing a game or starting a game.
In the minor league Triple-A, he had no experience as a starting pitcher with 158 games (21 starts), 16 wins and 12 losses with an ERA of 4.63 and 280 strikeouts in 286 innings, WHIP 1.51, 4.7 walks per nine innings, and 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings. However, he has become a top pitcher with two walks per nine innings and 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings in the CPBL.
There is also a sense of anxiety. He was a pitcher who rarely stands out in the U.S. Minor League, and there is also a gap between the CPBL and the KBO league. However, Kia has been aiming for positive effect as much as possible, noting that Stout is a left-hander who has been effective in the KBO league as its main starter who has been advantageous in split awards. What results will Kia’s bold decision to win the first place in the regular season in seven years and the Korean Series bring about.