Since the opening of the regular season, he has never left the mound before the fifth inning for more than two months. James Nail of the KIA Tigers, who has been reborn as the league’s best foreign ace, is leading the team.메이저놀이터
As of the 27th, Nail has a 6-1 record and an ERA of 1.64 in 66 innings in 11 games, ranking at the top of major personal indicators, including ERA and multiple wins.
In particular, he achieved quality start (QS, more than six innings and less than three earned runs) eight times, one of the indicators for evaluating starting pitchers, and is tied for second place in this category with teammates Yang Hyun-jong (KIA) and Ariel Hurado (Kium Heroes) after William Cuevas (KT Wiz, nine times).
This also means that Nail has maintained steady performance for more than two months. On March 27, his KBO league debut, Nail garnered his first win against the Lotte Giants in Gwangju by striking out nine with five hits (one homer) and one run in six innings.
Since then, he has become the winning pitcher in three consecutive games, including the game against KT in Suwon on April 3 (with five hits in six innings, no strikeouts and one run scored), and the game against LG Twins in Gwangju on April 9 (with seven hits, no strikeouts and no strikeouts in seven innings). Nail has maintained a smooth trend until the end of April, winning three games and having an earned run average of 1.47 in 30 ⅔ in five games.
Nail suffered his first loss against KT in Gwangju on the 2nd with eight hits, one strikeout and six runs (non-independent) in six ⅓ innings, but he was no longer shaken. In particular, he showed off his presence by achieving a quality start with three hits, two strikeouts and no runs in six innings, and three hits and three strikeouts in six innings, and one run in six walks, respectively, against Lotte in Sajik on the 21st and Doosan Bears in Gwangju on the 26th, which took the mound twice a week.
The biggest advantage of nail polish is its exquisite ball control. According to Statiz, a baseball statistics site, nail polish has a strikeout/ball ratio of 5.67, ranking fourth in the league after Shin Min-hyuk (NC: 9.75) and Aaron Wilkerson (Lotte: 8.29). The only time that nail polish gave up more than three walks in a game was against Doosan in Gwangju on Saturday (three walks).
Nails are also used in a variety of ways. They confuse hitters based on their main weapons, two-seam, and a sweeper called a “deformation slider.” Some teams have already met nails twice, but batters still have difficulties against them.
Looking back over the past two months, Yang Hyun-jong and Nail were the only two players who consistently maintained their position in the KIA starting line-up. In the meantime, there were large and small gaps in the starting line-up due to injuries and sluggishness. If Nail had slowed down even a little, it would not have been possible for KIA to lead the team.
There is only one goal of such nails: ‘Winning’. Not only the team but also the nails have a strong will for ‘V12’.
Nail, who met with reporters in the first spring camp in Canberra, Australia, in February, said, “I think the team’s priority is to win. I think that’s why the team recruited me. I think that’s why the team recruited me. As KIA is a team with tradition and history, I also want to be a part of that history and I will work hard.” Even after the opening of the regular season, when I met with reporters, I emphasized the team rather than individual performance.