SSG early on kicked out Robert Duggar, who had suffered a devastating failure due to his failure to adapt to the ABS zone at the beginning of the season. It was difficult to see Duggar’s performance more, but it was an early exit possible because alternatives were in place. SSG recruited Drew Anderson, 30, who had been paying close attention to Duggar as a substitute.메이저사이트
Anderson has strong ball power and experience as a starter, and he played in Japanese professional baseball and was familiar with the Asian League. So several KBO league teams were also interested in the last offseason. However, recruitment was not made at the time due to one reason or another, but when a gap appeared, SSG boldly hit and snatched the player. Anderson also preferred the advantage of being close to his Japanese wife and having no resistance to Asian baseball.
As he played as a bullpen in the U.S. this year, he actually needed a build-up process. He explained that it took some time to adjust to official ball games. His first five games record was 2-1 with an ERA of 4.09. He does not look that good. However, a closer look reveals things to expect. In the recent two games, he won by recording quality starts (more than six innings and less than three earned runs).
At the match against LG in Incheon on May 30, he allowed three hits and two runs in six innings, and at the match against Samsung in Incheon on June 5, he pitched well, allowing four hits and two runs (one earned run) in six innings. His pitching was a welcome blow to SSG, which had been struggling due to the collapse of its starting lineup. Although the game was not a scoreless one, it was also encouraging to see that the pitch itself reminded people of the word “overwhelming.” Above all, his fastball pitching is getting stronger.
Anderson throws fast balls. In terms of average speed, he is not envious of any players in the KBO League. According to a tally by Trackman, which provides tracking data to nine KBO League teams, Anderson’s average speed of four-seam fastballs is about 153 kilometers per hour and his maximum speed is about 157 kilometers per hour. Although his release point is not high, he has excellent vertical movement. It is sufficiently possible to hit the high zone, and as the actual theory suggests, Anderson has shown such a performance in practice.
What makes Anderson’s fastball special is that it moves not only vertically but also horizontally. It moves slightly toward the right batter’s body and the outside of the left batter at the last minute. In addition, it rotates well, so it loses relatively less power. You can feel that the ball is alive and moving.
In the match against LG, LG sluggers swung and missed Anderson’s fastball. He also looked surprised after swinging. The same was true of Samsung sluggers. After garnering 2S count in his favor, Anderson waged a head-on race with high-side fastballs, regardless of left and right hitters. Batters who read Anderson’s inclination boldly swung his bat, but a significant number failed to catch up with the speed.
With that in mind, Anderson struck out seven against LG and 10 against Samsung. He also struck out nine against Hanwha in Incheon on May 24, when he lost the game while allowing six runs. He struck out a whopping 36 times in 22 innings. He has demonstrated that he has the ability to escape a crisis by himself. He sometimes has regrets about his command and breaking ball location, but he has only six walks in 22 innings. He has an excellent number of strikeouts and walks, which is called a pitcher’s intrinsic indicator, at 6.0.
If the fastball command can be refined, this advantage will likely shine even more. The on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) against LG was 0.624, and that against Samsung was 0.364. Anderson currently has 14.73 strikeouts per nine innings, which is by far the highest among all starting and bullpen pitchers who have met more than 30 percent of this year’s required innings, and is also the best record in the history of the KBO League surpassing Kim Jae-yoon (14.10 kt at the time), the previous best in 2015. While Kim Jae-yoon is the closing pitcher who throws short innings with all his might, Anderson is more valuable in that he is a starter who has to control his own strength.
Opponent hitters are likely to aim for Anderson’s fastball, and gradually respond to the ball. Attention is focusing on how Anderson will overcome this crisis. However, the team has completed its build-up and adaptation to the official ball to some extent now that it can throw 100 balls. This means that the team is close to 100 percent. If Anderson can take advantage of his strengths, he may be able to easily decide on a single foreign player position at the SSG next year.