The Kia Motors League, desperate to get back into the postseason hunt, made two morning and afternoon trades for foreign pitchers on June 6. Adonis Medina (27) and Sean Anderson (29), both newcomers to the organization this season, packed their bags.
Medina’s departure was foreshadowed early on. In 12 games this season, he was 2-6 with a 6.05 ERA. He had a fastball that touched 150 miles per hour and a slider with decent angle, but that was about it. He was unable to utilize his stuff in games, and he didn’t inspire confidence by faltering sharply with runners on base. Eventually, he was sent down to the second team after the June 21 game against Daejeon Hanwha.
At the time, KIA manager Kim Jong-guk said, “I don’t think he’ll pitch in the first team,” which was a replacement sign. He was out. But Anderson’s situation was a little different. Anderson, who started the season with high expectations, even starting the team’s opening game, remained in the rotation until July 2 against the Jamsil LG Electronics.
Unlike Medina, Anderson’s situation was reportedly a source of concern within KIA. Anderson’s performance wasn’t as “urgent” as Menina’s. Anderson went 4-7 with a 3.76 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP in 79 innings over 14 games this season. Based on these stats alone, there are plenty of players who are actually worse than Anderson.
The team had to be confident that the replacement would be better than Anderson, and it’s possible that they wouldn’t have been able to let him go as easily if Thomas Pannoni, who served as an alternate foreign national last year, hadn’t been released. This is due to the narrow pool of substitute foreign players in the United States. KIA also took a gamble.
Anderson has eight quality starts (six or more innings pitched and three or fewer earned runs allowed) in 14 games this year. As a percentage, that’s 57.1%. That ranks 12th in the league among players with 10 or more starts. Since June 8, when he made one adjustment in the secondary, his four-game ERA is 2.96, with three quality starts. The overall graph looked like it was bottoming out and going up.
That’s why we’re interested in what other teams are doing. Currently, there are 10 teams in the KBO who have made a decision to replace their pitchers with foreigners, and a few who are still waiting to see what the market will bring. We were also interested in whether a team would be able to solve the ‘puzzle’ based on the team’s situation, the prospects of the foreign market, and Anderson’s skills. Since it was a waiver claim, there was some order of precedence.토토사이트
But no team wanted Anderson. He was placed on waivers on the 6th, but all nine teams passed on him and the waiver process was finalized within a day. No team even considered him. “There wasn’t a lot of interest from other teams, and KIA recognized that it wasn’t likely to boomerang (Anderson going elsewhere),” said one person familiar with the situation, “which shows that the other teams had a similar view of Anderson.”
Anderson’s fastball sits in the mid-to-high 90s. His fastball is good enough to be effective in the KBO. His rotation is also very good. However, he doesn’t have great vertical movement. He hasn’t been able to overpower his opponents with his fastball as expected. In addition, he relies too heavily on his slider, showing the limitations of his two-pitch arsenal. KIA also praised Anderson’s character, but said, “It’s harder to hold on to two pitches. This performance is the limit. Other teams felt the same way.
The fact that the teams considering replacing their pitchers with foreigners are not in the bottom half of the standings, but are aiming for the postseason and beyond, and the fact that the existing foreign players have a track record and are being watched for now, also created unfavorable market conditions for Anderson. As the deadline to replace a foreigner (postseason eligibility) approaches, it’s interesting to see if someone better than Anderson will be available.