Up until LG recruited Detrick Ness (33) ahead of this season, he seemed to be the ideal pitcher on paper. Left-handed pitchers who throw 150 kilometers per hour in the KBO league are considered to have a high chance of success. There is a strong perception that there is no such thing as a "slap." That is the case in the past. It was also positive that he had little experience in the Major League and experienced Asian baseball in the Japanese professional baseball league. Someone said that he is LG's new foreign ace who is aiming for his second consecutive victory in the Korean Series. 스포츠토토
However, I feel uneasy now that I open the lid. As a starter for LG's opening game, N.S. earned three wins and no loss with a 5.18 ERA in the first six games of this season. He has no loss yet, but his ERA is around five points. His batting average is also high at 0.273. It is positive that he has made four quality starts (more than six innings and less than three earned runs) but the overwhelming sense of pressure that he expected is bland.
Ence, who started in one game of the SSG and the double header held at Incheon SSG Landers Field on the 21st, showed all the shortcomings he had been hiding. On the day, Ence was sluggish with eight hits, two walks, five strikeouts and eight runs, including two home runs during five innings. There was an impression that he had been holding out somewhat narrowly, but his ERA rose sharply from 3.54 to 5.18 as he lost a large number of runs on the day.
Although it is early in the season, the evaluation is divided into two categories. Analysts say that he is a player who basically possesses something. In other words, he has a profile that he can recruit by filling the 1 million dollar cap on recruiting new foreign players. However, some analysts say that a single upgrade is essential to survive in the KBO league. Due to lack of critical tools, he is not able to effectively utilize his or her weapons.
N.C. said, "Four-seam itself is fast and the angle of the cutter is sharp. He also has the ability to induce grounders. However, he is criticized for lacking critical balls after 2S.
Notably, he deals with right-handed hitters. N.C.'s batting average against right-handed hitters amounts to 0.292 this season. Due to his inability to secure 2S well against right-handed hitters, he returns the ball count in his favor and ends up getting beaten up a lot.
LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop is paying attention to the change-up, but he has yet to use it with confidence. In the match against SSG in Incheon on Sunday, Ens threw a total of 94 pitches, but change-ups accounted for less than 9 percent of the total. Considering that the SSG lineup brought in a large number of right-handed hitters on the day, it signifies that the team is still not confident in the game. Eventually, the team struggled in the game of critical pitches after 2S, and even the four-seam team, which had no choice but to throw, was hit due to poor command, and failed to break the chain of massive losses.
In fact, it is not easy to add new pitches or develop them further during the season. Therefore, the future of N.C. is divided from two perspectives. If you find a clue through changeup or other breaking balls, your performance could be much better than today. He is not a poor ball control player, and if you look at the process of getting to 2S, you can feel the quality of his pitches in his own way. However, if a decision is not made, the number of pitches he throws will increase and he could end up pitching in six innings. This is not what LG wanted from N.C.
It could be more comparable because his predecessor pitched well. Adam Plutko, the predecessor of N.S., pitched well with 26 wins and eight losses and an ERA of 2.40, in 49 games over the two years from 2022 to 2023. Although LG finished the season poorly due to injury last year, there is no doubt that he helped LG win the regular season title. Plutko was able to overcome the crisis by modifying and refining his slider. While attention is focusing on whether N.S. will be able to take the same path, LG's early season when its mound is difficult due to an increasing number of bullpen injuries is a matter of life and death.