Will Eric Peddy be able to shake off the disappointment of the previous appearance and help his team, NC Dinos, compete in the top 5?
Peddy will take the mound as a starting pitcher in an away game against SSG Landers in the 2023 professional baseball KBO league held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 8th.
Peddy, who has been active as a full-time starting pitcher in the American Professional Baseball Major League (MLB) and participated in 102 major league games (454.1 innings), recorded 21 wins, 33 losses, and an average ERA of 5.41. He played 17 games before the match against the Lotte Giants in Busan on the 1st, and had an unrealistic record of 14 wins, 2 losses and an ERA of 1.74.
In addition to his outstanding skills, Peddy was impeccable in his thorough self-management and warm heart for his teammates. NC coach Kang In-kwon, whom I recently met, said of him, “He has a pitch that overwhelms batters, but he never neglects one hitter or one hitter match under any circumstances. He starts with the first pitch and maintains it until the number of pitches exceeds 100. I think he is like a player who was active in the major leagues.”
However, Peddie could not avoid the struggle in the match against Lotte on the 1st. In the bottom of the second inning, he allowed two runs while committing three consecutive hits and a wild pitch, and allowed two runs in the bottom of the third, though he held it to no runs. It was a rare sight, considering that before that game, Pedi’s on-base percentage (WHIP) per inning was 0.98.
The ordeal continued in the bottom of the 4th inning. He hit a two-run arch over the left wall while using a 2-ball 129km sweeper against Jung Bo-geun at 1st base and 1st base. Peddie hoped the ball would go over the foul line, but the ball came into the pole without incident. It was the second home run of Jeong Bo-geun’s personal career, who debuted as a professional in 2018, and the moment when the season’s first cannon came out.
When it became clear that it was a home run, Peddie lowered his head and chewed on regret. Even after that, he dedicated a double to the right field and an RBI to Kim Min-seok and Nico Goodrum, respectively, and finished the game with an additional run. The NC bench did not put Peddie on the mound from the bottom of the 5th inning, judging that it would be better to give him a break.
The final score was 4 innings, 9 hits, 1 home run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts and 5 runs, and the total number of pitches was 78. As NC lost 3-6 in the game, Peddie took his third loss of the season, and his ERA also soared from 1.74 to 2.10. His runs and hits were also his highest in a game, and this was the first time he had not played more than 5 innings.
What is the reason that Pedy, who has become the best foreign ace in the KBO League this year, has been so sluggish? Director Kang cited the hot weather unique to Busan at the time and the fact that the Lotte batters were well prepared. It is a story that Peddy had a temporary phenomenon rather than a technical problem.
As the command tower said, Pedi now has to prove that the ups and downs against Lotte were temporary, but this time he faced SSG once on June 9 and became a winning pitcher with six hits, one home run, two walks, and two runs in six innings. He gave up a lot of hits at the time, but he minimized his runs with overwhelming pitching. Guillermo Herredia (one hit in three at-bats, one home run in three at-bats, two RBIs) is currently out due to injury, but Ha Jae-hoon (2 hits in three at-bats) and Jung Cho-yi (1 hit and one run in two at-bats) were cited as concerns.
Even as NC, Pedi’s good performance is desperately needed. NC, which is currently in third place with 48 wins, 1 draw and 43 losses, is fiercely competing with the fifth-ranked KT Wiz (49 wins, 2 draws, 44 losses) and the fifth-ranked Doosan Bears (47 wins, 1 draw, 44 losses). Depending on the results of the series against second-place SSG (52 wins, 1 draw, 39 losses) and KT, which will face off one after another this week, they can stably secure third place and aim for second place, but the possibility of being completely pushed out of the ranking competition cannot be ruled out.
Above all, Peddy is the most reliable card among the unstable NC starters, with Chang-mo Gu (stress fracture of the left forearm muscle) and Jae-hak Lee (fracture of the metatarsal bone in the left foot) missing. Choi Seong-young, who has recovered from an orbital fracture, is about to return this week, but considering that the hiatus was not short, once Pedi has won the game and entered the game, it will be easy to operate in the future.
Will Peddy be able to prove that the sluggishness against Busan Lotte on the 1st was temporary with his good pitching? This is also the most necessary element for NC, which is aiming to advance to the postseason after 3 years since the last 2020 season (integrated championship).
Meanwhile, SSG predicted left-hander Kim Gwang-hyun as the starter against Pedi. Debuting as a pro at SK Wyverns (now SSG) in 2007, he is a left-handed pitcher with a record of 149 wins and 80 losses and an ERA of 3.17 in a total of 326 games (1847 innings) in the KBO League until last year. His performance this season is 6-3 with an ERA of 3.77 in 17 appearances (93 innings). Against NC, he was relatively sluggish this year with 4 runs in 4.1 innings in one game.
WEBSITE: 토토사이트웹