KIA won 4-3 after a bloody battle in the 11th overtime in the match against LG held at Jamsil Stadium on the 28th. It was a very important victory that became a stepping stone to continue the recent upward trend.
However, the mound was inevitably consumed. Starter Yang Hyeon-jong went down after 5 innings, and as the game turned into a close match, the number of innings split increased. With Lee Joon-yeong pitching 1⅓ innings and Jung Hae-young pitching 2 innings, a total of 7 reliever pitchers had to open the door and come out.
This kind of team situation seemed to be a bit of a burden for Shawn Anderson (29), who started the game against LG in Jamsil on the 29th. This is because he had to digest as many innings as possible as a starter. I also had to play a part in continuing the team’s winning streak. It wasn’t a game where you could simply think, “If you block well for 5 innings, the bullpen is behind you.” Anderson was given the difficult task of throwing long innings while pitching with all his might.
Anderson has done much of the hard work. In a game against LG on the 29th, he threw 112 balls, the most this season, in 6 innings, throwing 6 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts and no runs. He was recorded as an extremely rare starting pitcher who blocked the LG batting line, the strongest in the league, with no runs, and relieved the burden on the bullpen while eating up 6 innings. If Anderson had collapsed early, KIA, whose bullpen situation was difficult, could have quickly given up the game on the 29th and prepared for the game on the 30th.
Anderson threw his main weapon, the slider, at his fastball with a maximum speed of 151.9 km per hour (according to Trackman), avoiding the concentrated hits of LG hitters. Against LG, which has a tendency to run a lot, there were many things to worry about, but the game was calmly solved. The team won 6-3, their third win of the season.
Anderson is 3-2 with a 2.58 ERA in 38⅓ innings in 6 games this season. His batting average is 0.225 and his on-base per inning (WHIP) is stable at 0.99. He has 6 walks allowed while striking out 27, and there is a sense of stability in this metric as well. He also recorded quality starts (three earned runs or less in six or more innings of start) five times. It gradually instills the belief that “even if you can’t do it, you can do the basics”.안전놀이터
Compared to Hector Noesi (36) and Aaron Brooks (33), who showed the best skills among KIA foreign pitchers in recent years, the start is comparable. Hector had a 4.23 earned run average in 38⅓ innings over his first six games in 2016, his debut season in the KBO League. Brooks had a 3.13 earned run average in 37⅓ innings over the first six games of 2020, his first season in the KBO League. It is concluded that Anderson’s inning digestion is not inferior to the two players, and his ERA is better than at the time. Even with season-specific offense correction, he is ahead of both players.
Although he is not the type to strike out a lot, he also has the ability to steal an outcount by pressing with force when necessary. Hector and Brooks were also players whose aggressive pitching stood out more than strikeouts. All three players have different tendencies, but they share the same track in terms of digesting many innings with a sense of stability. Expectations are rising that Anderson, who is reminiscent of ‘Thor’ Noah Syndergaard (LA Dodgers) with his shiny hair, will protect the KIA mound with the same strength as Thor.