We are making thorough preparations. How long do we have to see a foreign pitcher who failed 5 consecutive innings for 4G when he is in a hurry to fight for the first place. The time for a decision is now
Jul 02, 2025
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If you look at the pitching performance of the Hanwha Eagles and the LG Twins, who are fighting for first place, you can see where the difference is. It's a foreign pitcher.
In Hanwha, Cody Ponce is ranked first in the most wins, ERA, and strikeouts with 11 wins and no losses, 1.99 ERA, and 150 strikeouts. He is ranking first in the four categories of pitchers for the first time in his career, as he is ranking first in the three wins rate of 100 percent. Ryan Weiss is also showing good performance in 17 games with nine wins and three losses and an earned run average of 3.25. The two have already won 20 games.
Ponce is ranked second and third in innings with 108 ⅔ innings and Weiss with 102 ⅓ innings. This means that he is taking responsibility for many innings as a starting pitcher and even presents victory.
On the other hand, LG's Yoni Chirinos is performing well with 7 wins, 4 losses and an ERA of 3.49, but it is slightly disappointing than manager Yeom Kyung-yeop expected by talking about more than 15 wins before the season. In particular, the ERA was very good at 1.67 until April, but it became difficult for batters to face 4.50 in May and 5.20 in June as time passed.
Eliaser Hernandez, who turned into a bullpen pitcher and showed tremendous pitching in the postseason last year, has been sluggish since the first two games even after returning from a six-week absence due to injury this season. 3 wins and 3 losses with a 4.40 ERA in 10 games.
Except for the game against NC on June 17, when he was sent off in the second inning with a head shot, Hernandez was unable to fill the fifth inning with three runs in four ⅔ against SSG Landers on June 11 and four runs in four innings against Doosan on June 21.
There is no need to explain the dependence of foreign pitchers in the KBO League. This is why there are talks that LG may be pushed back in the first place fight.
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However, Hernandez did not show a significant rebound in the match against Lotte in Busan on the 1st. He allowed two hits, four walks, four strikeouts and one run in four innings. I didn't get a lot of hits, but I certainly couldn't overwhelm the batter.
Hernandez, who threw 77 pitches until the fourth inning, came out in the bottom of the fifth inning, and gave up a walk to No. 8 Jeon Min-jae after a close game of up to eight pitches, and No. 9 Information Geun also allowed a walk to only 11 pitches, replacing him with 96 pitches in the crisis of first and second bases with no outs.
It was difficult to find the strength expected from foreign pitchers in the difficult game against the lower lineup. When playing against Jeon Min-jae, three consecutive fouls came out in the full count, and five fouls were mass-produced after two strikes in the match against Information Geun. This means that Hernandez's ball is visible and becomes a contact.
It is a vicious cycle of increasing the number of pitches and decreasing innings as the ball catches well when it is strong in the beginning, but if the ball power drops from the third inning, there is not enough ball to definitely overpower the batter after two strikes.
If you decide to replace it, now could be the right time. Since there is an All-Star break on the 6th, you can take one out of the mound. It is also a good way to end Hernandez like he did in the postseason last year. Then, there is no gap in the replacement of foreigners, and Lee Jung-yong, who started in Sangmu, or Choi Chae-heung, who recently showed good performance as a temporary starter, can set up five starters, strengthening the bullpen without a starting gap. However, switching to the bullpen is a matter that requires consultation with Hernandez.
The time for Hernandez and LG's decision is approaching.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
