Challenge to the championship! The meaning of the men's 16K shutout in the big league to Busan...Kim Taehyung's last player.

Aug 08, 2025

Challenge to the championship! The meaning of the men's 16K shutout in the big league to Busan...Kim Taehyung's last player.
Lotte Giants new foreign pitcher Vince Velazquez. AP Yonhap News



"Winning? You have to do it while you can." How do you know when the next opportunity will come?"

I've used all the players I can use. Now, only foreign players could change.

He is a pitcher with a lot of big league experience, but he is not old. There is also a risk of injury.




The Lotte Giants chose the winning move. It is the first time in professional baseball history that a foreign player has won 10 games. Lotte chose to recruit Vince Velazquez, who has 38 wins in the major leagues, instead of Tucker Davidson, who failed to overcome his unstable appearance.

Velazquez has five full-time starts in the big leagues. He pitched in a total of 191 games and 144 games as a starter, recording a career-high 38 wins and 51 losses with a 4.88 ERA. Since his big league debut, his total salary has exceeded 15.6 million dollars (about 21.5 billion won). As his big league career was cut off after Tommy John surgery (exchange of the inner leg of the elbow-reconstruction surgery), he seems to have picked Korea as a stage for a comeback. Furthermore, he is a big shot to join as an `alternative alien' in the middle of the season.

Challenge to the championship! The meaning of the men's 16K shutout in the big league to Busan...Kim Taehyung's last player.
Lotte Giants new foreign pitcher Vince Velazquez. USA Today Yonhap News
Luxury people dream of winning through ideal team rebuilding, but in the field, there is no separate timing for winning. The atmosphere of 'You have to catch it when the opportunity comes' is the trend.




Yeom Jong-seok (winning the Korean Series in 1992) and Joo Hyung-kwang (second place in 1995) who were the ace and victims of overwork who engraved Lotte's history, also have no regrets about their fiery pitching at the time, although their heyday was not long. This is because he was able to get into that position because he was a fireman, and he experienced an unforgettable moment for himself.

Manager Kim Tae-hyung and other players, including Park Se-woong, are now starting to put 'higher ' instead of 'Autumn Baseball'. Coach Kim Tae-hyung aimed to win the Korean Series within 3 years when he took office, but there is no reason to refuse to say that the opportunity came a year earlier. Right now, I realized that I don't know what foreign players will look like next season and what kind of injuries my beloved players will face this season.

Challenge to the championship! The meaning of the men's 16K shutout in the big league to Busan...Kim Taehyung's last player.
Lotte Giants Vince Velazquez. Photo courtesy = Lotte Giants
Velazquez was considered a promising player in both baseball and American football in his amateur days, and especially in American football, he is a natural athlete who has been noted as a throwable player in both his right and left hands. During his time with the Philadelphia Phillies, he was pampered as a key prospect for his team, and appeared as an outfielder in overtime to perform home bodhisattva and diving catch.




Career High was in 2018 when he recorded 9 wins, 12 losses and a 4.85 ERA in 146 ⅔ innings in 31 games (30 starts), but the best moment of his career was in 2016, his debut season. Understanding, April 15th, your big league debut 2 times? In the game against the San Diego Padres, he struck out 16 in nine innings without four pitches, achieving a shutout victory.

Challenge to the championship! The meaning of the men's 16K shutout in the big league to Busan...Kim Taehyung's last player.
The game between KIA and Lotte was held at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 6th. Davison, who finished pitching scoreless in the top of the sixth inning, is sharing his joy. Busan = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.08.06/
Although he did not make it to the big league, his pitching record in Triple-A this season is also strong. He pitched in 18 games and 81 ⅔ innings, recording 5 wins, 4 losses and an ERA of 3.42, and averaged 151 kilometers of fastballs in the process. On top of that, the main weapons are sinkers with an average of nearly 150 kilometers and sliders with an average of around 140 kilometers. It even has a knuckle curve and change-up.

Davison was also a good pitcher with experience in winning the World Series. He took the mound in 22 games this season, and it was regrettable that the first 10 games and after that were clearly divided. In the first 10 games, he showed off his presence with 6-1 losses and a 1.96 ERA, including 3 games over 7 innings, but only 3 games have passed 6 innings in 12 games, including his last appearance. There has never been seven innings, with only 4 wins, 4 losses and a 5.23 ERA.

This is the first case of a foreign pitcher with 10 wins. If Lotte was going to be satisfied with the fall baseball this season, there was no reason to replace it. Now Lotte is only running after winning the Korean Series.

Challenge to the championship! The meaning of the men's 16K shutout in the big league to Busan...Kim Taehyung's last player.
The game between KIA and Lotte was held at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 6th. Lotte won the game 7 to 1. Davison, who finished his last appearance on the day, is taking a commemorative photo with his teammates. Busan = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.08.06/




This article was translated by Naver AI translator.