SSG Landers’ new foreign pitcher Drew Anderson, 30, will make his KBO debut without practicing.
SSG manager Lee Sung-yong revealed the plan after watching Anderson pitch out of the bullpen at Jamsil Stadium on Aug. 8. Lee said, “Anderson’s visa came through. We applied for player registration with the KBO. Anderson will start on Friday,” Lee said. It’s the 10th against Gwangju KIA.
Lee said, “Let’s get him out there quickly, get him out there quickly, control his pitch count, and continue the buildup. I told him to do it as soon as possible, and he said it’s been a while since he’s pitched, but he said it would be fun.”
Anderson usually gets at least one practice start with the second team, but he skipped that and went straight to work. 안전놀이터 추천 “We had a scrimmage scheduled for the sixth, but it was rained out. We did some bullpen pitches, did a final check today, talked to him, and he was okay. I’m going to throw 10 days and increase my pitch count by 10 pitches. I think in June, if we can get him to 80-plus pitches, we’ll have momentum in the starting rotation.”
An early start to get through May
“I thought May could be the most difficult, but when I saw (Song) Young-jin yesterday, I realized that our team is not weak,” Lee said. Kim Kwang-hyun, Elias, Oh Won-seok, Anderson, and Song Young-jin (+ Park Jong-hoon and Lee Eun-wook) will be the starting lineup.
SSG announced the signing of Anderson after releasing Robert Dugger on March 27th. Dugger struggled with a 3-3 record and 12.71 ERA in six appearances, and SSG quickly decided to make a change. They signed Anderson for $570,000.
Anderson is 1-3 with a 6.50 ERA in 19 games (44⅓ innings) in the majors and 39-33 with a 3.47 ERA in 125 games (570⅔ innings) in the minors. In 2022, he signed with the Hiroshima Toyokafe in Japan, where he played two seasons of Asian baseball, going 7-5 with a 3.05 ERA in 34 games (19 starts). This year, he pitched nine games out of the bullpen for Triple-A Detroit.
Anderson arrived on March 3 and made his first bullpen appearance on March 5.
He threw 50 pitches in total, going through his fastball, curveball, slider, changeup, and other pitches.
For the time being, Anderson won’t be throwing a lot of pitches. His first start is expected to be around 50 pitches. Lee said, “We’ll decide who to pitch behind Anderson based on the data and the pitcher’s condition. I’m thinking about Lee Ki-soon, Choi Min-joon, and I’m thinking about various things. If the score difference is winning, (Lee) Ro-woon or (Han) Doo-sol might come in quickly,” Lee said.
Meanwhile, Lee said, “Young-jin will start on Sunday (Dec. 12), (Park) Jong-hoon is still preparing to start in the second team, and I think Jong-hoon will play when needed, and (Lee) Gun-wook is also building up to start. Depending on the team, 메이저 토토사이트 we are also thinking about Plan C, which is to utilize Young-jin in the (fifth) lineup.”