Will foreign pitcher James Nail of the KIA Tigers make a dramatic comeback as the first starter of the Korean Series? First of all, the speed and atmosphere of rehabilitation itself are not bad. Nail, who was discharged early two days after being hospitalized, reportedly volunteered to train at a baseball stadium.
Nail has played in 26 games this season, with 12 wins, 5 losses, 2.53 138 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.27. Nail, who was playing in a full-time starting rotation without a break in the middle of the season, had to put down her glove for a while due to an unfortunate injury.
Nail started the game against the Changwon NC Dinos on April 24, and was seriously injured in the bottom of the sixth inning by Davison, the leadoff hitter. Nail immediately moved to Samsung Changwon Hospital and received an MRI examination, and was found to have a broken jaw joint. Nail, who needed surgery within 24 hours, underwent a jaw joint fixation at Asan Medical Center in Seoul the morning of the next day.
After the surgery, Nail posted on her SNS account, “I sincerely thank everyone who worried and prayed for me. God took good care of me last night. The surgery was done well, and now I am focusing on recovering. I would like to thank the officials of Asan Medical Center for their help in surgery and treatment, and I would also like to thank KIA and NC teams.”
After suffering nail injury, Kia quickly moved to recruit a temporary substitute for foreign pitchers. On March 28, Kia officially announced the recruitment of Eric Stout, a left-hander who used to play in the Taiwanese professional baseball league, for an annual salary of 45,000 U.S. dollars.
Stout immediately pitched the bullpen after entering Korea last week to prepare for his KBO League debut. Stout, who quickly succeeded in issuing a work visa, started the game against the Samsung Lions in Daegu on the 1st and was sluggish with 97 pitches, four hits (two home runs), six strikeouts, two walks and five runs in four innings.
Of course, Stoute is responsible for filling up the vacancy until the regular season. KIA has widened the gap again to 6.5 games in second place by sweeping all two consecutive away games against Samsung over the weekend. If KIA has a winning percentage of 50% in the remaining games, its competitors will have to improve their performance close to winning the match. In fact, chances are high that Kia will be able to win the regular season title and advance to the Korean Series. The biggest concern now is whether or not its nails will return to the Korean Series schedule.
First of all, the atmosphere of nail recovery is very positive. Nails were originally hospitalized for a week, but were discharged after two days and returned to their accommodation in Korea. He is expressing his strong will to return to the team by taking nutrition and exercising simple things. He even told the team that he would go to the ballpark immediately and perform training.
“I heard that Neil is constantly watching baseball at home and focusing only on his return. He is definitely recovering faster than expected. On top of that, he recently conveyed to the team his intention to go to the ballpark to train. We discussed with the team the training part and decided on that part,” a Kia official said. “Even though he is a foreign player, he has a strong commitment to play in the Korean Series with his teammates.” 안전놀이터
KIA will also see nothing better than Nail who has become the biggest variable in the Korean Series, and if Nail returns as the starting pitcher of the first round of the Korean Series, there is no better picture. In addition, if foreign pitcher Eric Lauer, who is still struggling in the KBO League, finds a way to rebound, it can be expected to win the Korean Series overwhelmingly. After joining the team, Lauer continued his slump by posting one win, two losses and 6.87 ERA in four games. Lauer plans to make changes while discussing with the bench his concerns about mixing balls, which did not work until the last time he took the mound.
I wonder if KIA will be able to challenge ‘V12’ in the best scenario as it succeeds in rebounding Lauer along with Nail’s return to the first game of the Korean Series.