It doesn’t play the role of ‘Innings Eater’ at all. At this rate, even foreign pitchers should be nervous.
The biggest concern for the KIA Tigers starting lineup this season is Adonis Medina. Medina is making the KIA bench feel frustrated with the results of the start of the season that did not meet expectations. He, of course, aroused expectations again with a pitch that showed an opportunity to rebound, but a pitch that left regret immediately came out in the next appearance.
Medina achieved a quality start with 4 hits, 5 walks, 6 strikeouts and 3 runs in 6 innings against the Doosan Bears in Gwangju on April 9, resulting in a decent debut in the KBO League. However, Medina, who suffered his first loss of the season that day, fell into his third consecutive personal loss due to sluggish pitching in which he failed to exceed 5 innings in 2 games in a row and lost a lot of runs.
Still, it seemed that the turning point had come. On April 26, Medina won his first win in his KBO League debut by showing off his most outstanding pitch this season with 8 innings, 6 hits, 6 strikeouts and 3 walks without a run against the Gwangju NC Dinos.
A KIA official who watched Medina pitching that day said, “It seems that the fact that the ball formulation was slightly different from before came out as a good result. When he used a two-seam fastball and slider, it worked well for him to use a two-seam fastball for right-handers and a slider for left-handed hitters. The opponent also analyzed the power based on the contents of the previous appearance, so it must have been a catchy ball combination that day.”
However, Medina left a regret that collapsed immediately in the next appearance. Medina, who recorded 6 hits, 3 walks and 5 runs in 3 innings against the Lotte Giants in Gwangju on May 2nd, took on another defeat with the least innings pitched this season. It is painful to note that in five appearances this season, 1 win, 4 losses, an average ERA of 6.92 and a WHIP of 1.77 were generally poor, and there were three appearances that failed to exceed 5 innings.
In the case of Medina, basically, if the slider and curve control are shaken on the day of the mound, the power of the two-seam fastball is significantly reduced. Rather than adjusting the pace through the breaking ball command, there are often scenes where he is hit by pushing a two-seam fastball into the zone. Since he mainly played the role of the bullpen before entering the KBO League, he lacks the ability to run the game as a starting pitcher. KIA coach Kim Jong-guk also pointed out, “Medina is a power pitcher style, but on the starting mound, I think it is necessary to adjust the strength to some extent.”
The basic virtue of a foreign pitcher is ‘inning eater’. Therefore, ‘digesting at least 6 innings’ is a figure that can be expected from foreign pitchers. However, Medina has gone more than six innings in just two of his five appearances so far. He has no choice but to have a negative impact on team mound management.
If Medina improves the ability to control the pace and fails to show the results of digesting the innings, the KIA bench is bound to be in trouble. There’s plenty of room for changes before the mound overloads in long races. First of all, this is because Lim Ki-young, who has a lot of selection experience, can be an alternative to the new starting lineup.안전놀이터
Starting with the bullpen this season, Lim Ki-young plays an all-weather bullpen role, including multi-inning and long relief. Lim Ki-young, who pitched in 9 games this season and recorded an average ERA of 4.76 with 1 save and 1 hold, 11 strikeouts and 5 walks with a WHIP of 1.24, is a pitcher who has the ability to return to the starting lineup in the middle of the season. This is because he has been a starting pitcher for a long time until last year, so he is a starting pitcher.
Manager Kim Jong-guk recently said, “Lim Ki-young is in the bullpen now, but things may change in the future. He mentioned the possibility of returning to the starting lineup, saying, “If he just does it like now without adverbs, he can get another position.” As coach Kim said, if there is a change in the starting lineup, the alternative No. 0 is Lim Ki-young. If there are no major changes in Medina in May and Medina in April, the gap for Lim Ki-young to dig in is expected to widen.