Professional baseball LG Twins foreign pitcher Casey Kelly received a pass in the first survival audition.
“I think one of the two foreign pitchers needs to be replaced,” manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said recently. “I’m trying my best to save one of the foreign pitchers as their one-two punch, which accounts for 40 percent of the team’s power, is not good, but I think I need to prepare for the replacement of one of them.” Kelly and N.S. both fell into a slump due to their five-point ERA.안전놀이터
Kelly took the mound as a starting pitcher at a game against the NC Dinosaurs at Jamsil Stadium on Wednesday, and became the winning pitcher by allowing five hits, one strikeout, and three runs during six innings. He recorded his second win in 44 days after his victory over the Doosan Bears on April 12.
Throwing six innings, he had only one crisis. He allowed no run until the third inning, and lost four hits in the fourth inning. Seo Ho-cheol and Park Gun-woo had consecutive hits, and they rushed to the first and third bases with no outs. Davidson allowed one run with a sacrifice fly to the left field.
With one out and a runner on the first base, the runner on the first base ran to the second base, and when the catcher’s throw fell into the outfield, center fielder Park Hae-min threw it backward again, and the runner on the first base advanced to the third base. With two outs and a third base on the third base, Kim Seong-wook had an RBI double and Kim Joo-won had a timely hit, allowing up to three runs. LG’s batters scored two runs in the first inning and four runs in the fifth inning to come from behind to win the game.
After the game, Kelly said, “I’m very happy to win, and I’m very satisfied that it helped me give my team a win after a long time.”
Kelly also said, “I focused on striking a lot and throwing aggressive pitches. I focused on my fastball command and fastball control. When I had a difficult game, the ratio of breaking balls was high, so I tried hard on my own. I focused on what I could do best, controlling my fastball, aggressive pitching and striking a lot, and I think it turned out well.”
Kelly has been playing for the LG Twins for six consecutive seasons this year. He renewed his contract at 1.5 million U.S. dollars this season. He throws various pitches including fastball, two-seam, curveball, slider (cutter), change-up and forkball at the end of 140 kilometers.
He continued to show sluggish performance early in the season, and posted 2-4 loss with a 5.60 ERA in 11 games. He is the lowest in ERA among 22 pitchers in the league who met the required innings. Kelly has had ups and downs so far. He recorded six QSs in 11 games, but there were also four games where he allowed more than five runs. He needs to reduce his ups and downs.
To this end, manager Yeom Kyung-yeop pointed out the decrease in fastball speed and the ratio of breaking balls (curve, forkball). He called for throwing more curveballs with main weapons and forkballs that he added in the second half of last year, rather than fastballs that lost speed.
Kelly wants to recover his fastball command first and use forkballs more appropriately. “The coach has a point, but when I thought about what I’ve succeeded with in playing in the KBO for five years, I think I’ve succeeded a lot because of my good fastball. I think I succeeded because I had good commands and controls that evenly used the outside of my body, top, bottom, left and right. So I think it helps me to focus a little more on what I can do well,” Kelly said.
He is also taking Yeom’s advice. In the recent five games, Kelly threw two to two, five to 11 to 10 fork balls. The number is increasing.
Kelly said, “The ratio of fastball to curve is almost the same, and we are increasing the ratio of splitter (fork ball) a little more. “I am running the game, and I will continue to use the curve on the crystal grater that I can throw best, and I will use the splitter based on the situation.”
Kelly’s performance in the second half of every year was better than in the first half. Will it be possible this year, too? Kelly said, “Sure. I think I can rebound. I think I can return to the Kelly I used to know. I’m testing my splitter now, and sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. And because it’s the process of finding out when to throw and finding out what’s effective, I believe to myself that if I find out and find out well, I can return to the Kelly you know. I’m confident.”
The average speed of fastballs is gradually increasing as well. “The coach’s comment is right. I lost about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) and I think the average speed of fastballs will increase as the seasons continue, so I’m not worried,” Kelly said.