Is it time to throw away lingering attachments? Lotte Giants Dan Strayley (35) seems to be gradually showing his limits. Now is the time to make a cool decision for Lotte fall baseball.
Strayley, who first wore a Lotte uniform in the KBO League in 2020, pulled out the aspect of ‘Doctor K’ with a powerful pitch and a sharp slider. He dominated the league, recording 15 wins, 4 losses, an average ERA of 2.50 (54 earned runs in 194⅔ innings) and 205 strikeouts in 31 games. The league strikeout king title belonged to Strayley.
He renewed the contract, and the following year, his power was less than the previous season, with an average ERA of 4.07 (75 earned runs in 165⅔ innings) in 31 games, 10 wins and 14 losses. However, it did not change that he was a foreign ace that could be trusted. In 2022, he left Lotte to challenge the major leagues, but joined as a substitute in the second half and played a role with an average ERA of 2.31 (24 ERA in 62⅓ innings) in 11 games, 4 wins and 2 losses.
He hoped to continue his performance in the second half of last year by signing a multi-year contract until this year. However, as he reached the age of mid-thirties, his pitch, which had been going downward, became sexually connected. Last year, I somehow held on, but it fell below the standard of 2021.
The pitch tracking system (PTS) data measured by Sports 2I confirms that Strayley is gradually coming down from the peak. His fastball’s velocity, movement, and revolutions per minute are all declining.
▲ Strayley PTS fastball data for the last 3 years (average speed / up and down movement / rotations per minute)
2021: 145.8 km / 26.7 cm / 2575.4 times
2022: 143.3 km / 26.9 cm / 2373.2 times
2023: 143 km / 25.6 cm / 2374.4
times Rayleigh couldn’t help but laugh. He gave up 4 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks on 99 pitches in 4 innings. In the previous 3 games, he filled up even 5 innings and blocked it with the least run, but on this day, it was difficult to deal with LG’s other line. He threw 62 pitches up to the second inning, including 36 pitches in the first inning. He held on by a fluke and collapsed. The bench also hoped for a good luck and almost missed the game when it was leading 6-1.토토사이트
In the past, the number of pitches increased as all the balls that had to be swinging wrong or connected with weak hits were all cut with fouls. Strayley, a strikeout pitcher, is leading to the tragedy of not being able to strike out. The number of pitches per inning is 18.2, which is far from ideal. Also, since his pitch is low and he is not fooled by breaking pitches, his walk numbers are getting worse. The phenomenon of the ball flying is also appearing in every game. It means that the grip strength is low and the ball cannot be hit properly. The aftermath of the lowering of the upper and lower movements and revolutions per minute is great.
He has become a foreign player who can only play 5 innings. The game on the 9th could not even digest 5 innings. A quality start (less than 3 earned runs over 6 innings) is the minimum expectation, but even that is not easy. 4 quality starts in 16 games. Last June 2nd, KIA match (7 innings, 8 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts, 2 runs), the last quality start plus (7 innings or more, 3 earned runs or less), is recording pitches in less than 6 innings in 6 consecutive games. Players who should play the role of the 1st and 2nd starters are pitching for the 4th and 5th starters, so bullpen overload is inevitable.
Now we have to throw away the lingering attachment to Strayley, who has reached its limit. It is the opinion of 10 clubs that the replacement player market is difficult, but the necessary teams boldly replaced existing foreign players. They moved quickly and sought replacement players, such as bringing back players who had played an active role in the past.
Doosan re-signed Brandon Waddell, who played last year. Brandon is already leading Doosan’s 8-game winning streak with quality starts in 3 consecutive games. KIA also re-recruited Thomas Panoni, who played an active role last year, and brought in Mario Sanchez, who was active in Taiwan, to win the game. In his debut match against KT on the 9th, Sanchez left a strong impression with 6⅓ innings, 5 hits (1 home run), 10 strikeouts and 1 run. In addition, Hanwha (Ricardo Sanchez) and SSG (Loenis Elias) also gained momentum again after quickly deciding on a replacement player.
There is no reason to remain unnecessarily attached to the win-now season, and there is no time to be stubborn. When a situation arises, it is necessary to make a bold decision, but compared to other clubs, Lotte made a decision much later. As time goes on, the amount you can pay for a replacement player gets smaller and smaller, so the odds of bringing in a good player are getting less and less.
Everyone is struggling to secure the momentum for the rebound and survive in the mid-level fly hell. Should we just watch the team fall to save one Strayley? Will Lotte be able to make a decision in the ‘golden time’ of the rebound?