Detrick Nence, a foreign pitcher of the LG Twins in the professional baseball league, is creating a strong wind on the KBO league stage. He showed off his strikeout ability and showed off his potential to become the best pitcher in the league in two games. Manager Yeom Kyung-yeop expected that he would be better in the future.퀸알바
In the 2024 KBO League game against Kiwoom at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Tuesday, N.S. became the winning pitcher by allowing three hits and no runs in six innings. LG won the game 3-0. It was impressive that he stole 11 strikeouts in the fourth inning and perfect until the sixth inning.
As he threw 95 pitches, he evenly threw fastballs (53), cutters (21), curveballs (14), change-ups (6), and sliders (1 with the maximum speed of 150 kilometers per hour). His main weapons are fastballs and cutters. His fastballs are powerful, adding to his average speed of 147 kilometers per hour and strengths of left-handed pitchers. Cutters penetrating into the body of right-handed hitters are also sharp.
From the first inning to the fourth inning, N.S. struck out three outs in every inning. With one out in the first inning, he struck out center hitter Dawson with a fastball of 148 kilometers. Kim Hye-seong also struck out with a fastball of 149 kilometers. With one out in the second inning, he struck out Kim Hui-jip with a fastball of 148 kilometers and struck out Lee with a cutter of 138 kilometers.
In the third inning, he robbed Lee of timing with a 122 kilometer curve ball and struck out swinging and swinging. Two outs later, Lee Jae-sang struck out swinging and swinging with a fastball of 147 kilometers. After one out in the fourth inning, Dawson struck out swinging with a 146 kilometer fastball and Kim Hye-seong grounded out to the first base with a 139 kilometer cutter
He threw a curve ball to leadoff hitter Choi Joo-hwan in the fifth inning, and allowed a hit to the right-handed side. He allowed his first hit, but struck out Kim with a 135-km cutter, and Lee and Lee hit fly balls to the outfield.
With the score tied 1-0, he had two outs in the sixth inning, and Park had an infield single to the first baseman and Dawson to the right, putting him on the verge of being at the first and third bases with two outs. Ence sent a runner to the scoring position for the first time, but managed to get out of the crisis by striking out Kim Hye-seong with a fastball of 146 kilometers.
Coach Yeom Kyung-yeop said before the game on Tuesday, “I got the biggest win in my first game. For foreign players who are new to the KBO League, the first impression is very important. It is because it is greatly affected by how the first game is played. The first game (opening game) was a little difficult, but since the result was two runs in six innings, I think I have more confidence and I think I will play my part.”
“Insu performed better than expected against Kiwoom.” After the game, Manager Yeom Kyung-yeop praised him for his perfect pitching as the first starter. He has two wins, an earned run average of 1.50, and 15 strikeouts in two games (12 innings). He has two wins and is tied with Kim Kwang-hyun of the SSG, and ERA is the lowest among pitchers who started in two games. He is tied with KT Cuevas in both innings (12 innings) and strikeouts (15).
In the opening game against Hanwha on the 23rd, N.S. faced Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha) as the starting pitcher, and won the game with seven hits, two walks, one strikeout and two runs in six innings. The pitching was somewhat unsettling.
With runners on the first and second bases with no outs in the second inning, Moon forced out of the third base with runners on the infield’s agile defense, which overcame the crisis. With runners on the second and third bases with one out and runners on the first and third bases in the third inning, he grounded out to the third base to shut out the runner and prevented additional runs with strikeouts. With no outs and a bases loaded in the fourth inning, he allowed only one run with a hit ball and escaped the crisis with a groundout and strikeout. The fifth and sixth innings were three outs.
N.S. has experienced success and failure in Japan over the past two years. He performed well with the Seibu Lions in 2022 with 10 wins and 7 losses with a 2.94 ERA, but was sluggish with a 5.17 ERA in 12 games last year.
After LG signed a $1 million contract with Ens last winter, Yeom asked Ens to increase the value of change-up pitches to succeed in the KBO League.
Yeom said, “Pitching that keeps challenging can improve a lot further. Foreign players actually try to throw only what they are good at, but they don’t want to try new things. In that sense, I think there is a high possibility that he will get better because he has a very good personality. The percentage of changeups (that he is learning) throws is close to 10 percent.”
In the future, we need to see if teams centered on powerful left-handed hitters are also blocked well. Manager Yeom said that the cutter is powerful against right-handed hitters, but the decisive ball against left-handed hitters is regrettable. Kiwoom was a lineup that included three left-handed hitters, Dawson, Kim Hye-sung and Choi Joo-hwan. Hanwha also had only three left-handed hitters, Jung Eun-won, Moon Hyun-bin and Ha Ju-seok.