"Half of the new faces are left-handers" ··The decisive reason why KIA, which was in conflict, broke up with Tess-type

"Half of the new faces are left-handers" ··The decisive reason why KIA, which was in conflict, broke up with Tess-type

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Kia had many concerns before saying goodbye to Socrates Brito (32) who it had been with for three years. Crucially, the situation of recruiting foreign pitchers by other clubs had a major impact on the situation at the stage of conflict.

Kia recruited Patrick Wisdom, a new foreign hitter, on Wednesday. He hit 20 or more home runs for three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023 in the Major League, and although he played few games in the Chicago Cubs big league this year, he hit eight home runs. Kia is an outfielder with a batting average of 30 and not slow-footed, and has successfully acquired foreign hitters over the past decade. The same holds true for Socrates, who said goodbye to Wisdom.

Socrates had a batting average of 0.302 with 63 home runs, 270 RBIs, 266 runs and 40 steals for three years since joining the Kia Tigers in 2022. His on-base percentage was 0.352 and his slugging percentage was 0.491 over the past three years. This year's was the best among the three years with a batting average of 0.310 with 26 home runs, 97 RBIs and 92 runs. Since he won the title, it is rare to replace a foreign hitter with a good record, but Kia, which had been thirsty for a long-range hit, was agonizing over whether to replace a batter with a bad record. Recruitment of a big-handed hitter often leads to "all or no" result. If he succeeds, it will be a hit, but it carries heavy risks. In this modern era, it is very difficult to recruit a good big hit in the U.S. market. Above all, since Socrates itself is a waste to give up, Kia had many concerns while considering replacing a foreign hitter.

While Kia has postponed its decision to select a foreign hitter, other teams have completed composition of foreign players one after another. Among the "New Face" list were left-handed pitchers in succession. Doosan's Cole Irvin, Kiwoom's Kenny Rosenberg, Lotte's Tucker Davidson, and NC's Logan Allen are all left-handed. Jack Rogue, a pitcher Doosan recently acquired, is also a left-handed pitcher instead of Thomas Hatch, a right-handed one whose contract was terminated after a medical test.

Socrates has weaknesses in coping with left-handed breaking balls. He has a batting average of .310 this year, but his opponent's batting average is 0.289. Over the past three years, his batting average against left-handers was 0.259, which is significantly different from that against right-handed opponents (0.319).

KIA manager Lee Bum-ho put more weight on Socrates in the beginning of this year's season, saying that it would be difficult to find such a batter when Socrates was on the verge of a substitution, and the club that was considering a substitution eventually ended up with Socrates. Socrates even contributed to the championship by posting the best record in the three years.

However, at a time when Socrates was agonizing over the fact that he is an extreme slow-starter that goes up from the bottom at the beginning of the season every year, the situation in which other clubs recruited left-handers one after another seems to have had a big impact on the decision of the field. Manager Lee Bum-ho said, "Socrates' weakest type is the left-hander who throws the breaking ball well, but there have been too many left-handers among pitchers outside the league. The new right-handers are also fast-ball pitchers over 153km. Even if Socrates is not, he is slow to raise his pace, so I thought a lot about whether he can overcome the new pitchers."

A total of 11 new foreign pitchers will join the KBO League in 2025. Excluding Adam Oler from KIA, five out of 10 new pitchers from the nine teams are left-handers. Among the pitchers who played in the existing leagues, seven out of 17 pitchers from the nine teams that KIA will have to face next year, including Enmanuel de Hayesus and Lotte Charley Barnes, who moved to KT, are left-handers. Among the new right-handers, Riley Thompson (NC), Jonny Chirinos (LG), and Cody Ponce (Hanwha) are many fastball pitchers who easily throw mid-150 kilometers per hour.

There is also a lot of pressure to replace a batter who has adapted to the league by playing at the centerline of the team for three years. However, Kia concluded that if slow starter Socrates was sluggish for about two months, considering that period as a period of adaptation for a new batter and then starting to show the expected slugging power, it can expect better teamwork than before.

Since it took a long time to think, KIA has been negotiating with Socrates included in the list of players on hold for 2025 announced on November 30. In this case, even if the contract is failed, KIA has the right to hold it, so Socrates cannot go to another team in the KBO League for five years. However, KIA, which registered as a hold player and eventually recruited a new batter, decided to lift Socrates' right to hold it. Currently, the remaining nine teams have completed all contracts for foreign batters, so Socrates will leave the KBO League for now. However, as KIA decided to lift the hold, if there is a team that wants Socrates during the season, Socrates will be able to return to the KBO League according to his will. 메이저사이트

Socrates said on his SNS account, "I would like to thank my teammates, coaches, and clubs for treating me like a family for the past three years. I will never forget the love of my fans for their enthusiastic support. I was happy to see the result of my efforts to win the title in the 2024 season. I will keep the emotion of winning the title forever. I will spend the time of my farewell with feelings of trust, gratitude, and joy. I will move on to a new challenge again," before concluding by writing down his nickname in Korean, which fans called him "Tes bro."