This season, professional baseball foreign players are replaced in a row. The competition for rankings, which had been hotly unfolding due to the number of victories each club had successively, intensified.스포츠토토
Nine teams, excluding the LG Twins, have used foreign player replacement cards more than once this season. A total of 13 foreigners left the team.
This is the highest record since 2014 when it was allowed to have up to three foreign players. Last year, 12 were replaced during the season, with eight teams changing at least one foreign player.
The bad news of the injury that came early brought a quick decision.
The Hanwha Eagles, the first out of 10 clubs this season to replace foreign players, fired pitcher Birch Smith, who left due to shoulder pain on April 19th. Smith never stood on the mound in the KBO League again after distributing only 60 pitches in 2⅔innings in the season opener against the Kiwoom Heroes.
SSG Landers broke up with Annie Romero, who couldn’t even make her KBO league debut, on May 4. Romero left the team after undergoing rehabilitation due to shoulder pain that occurred during spring camp.
The ranking battle, which was fiercer than usual, ignited the rush to replace foreign players. This is because it is worth investing in if you can improve your strength by changing foreign players in a situation where the gap with the competing team is not large.
Lotte Giants, aiming for fall baseball for the first time in six years since 2017, sent out hitter Jack Rex and pitcher Dan Straley last month and recruited new faces Nico Goodrum and Aaron Wilkerson to reorganize the lineup.
The KIA Tigers also reconstructed the one-two punch by releasing Shawn Anderson and Adonis Medina at the end of the first half and bringing in Thomas Panoni and Mario Sanchez.
All of these teams are in the midst of a mid-level battle.
There are also 4 teams that have changed all 2 foreign players, which is the limit for replacing foreign players. Lotte, KIA, Hanwha and Kiwoom Heroes also drastically changed foreign players.
However, the replacement of foreign players during the season cannot avoid concerns about adaptation. Considering this, some teams bring in players with experience in the KBO league as a replacement for the released foreigner.
KT Wiz sent Vosulser and brought in William Cuevas, who led the team’s first combined championship in 2021, as a replacement. The Doosan Bears, which released Dylan Pyle, who was groaning due to injuries and sluggishness, also welcomed Brandon Waddell as a new companion, who was with them last year.
The Samsung Lions, who are at the bottom, decided to leave the mound for the rest of the season to Taylor Widener, who announced a waiver from the NC Dinos earlier this month, in place of the injured Albert Suarez.
Meanwhile, LG, which is leading the way this season, continues to accompany foreign players Casey Kelly, Adam Plutko, and Austin Dean, who were recruited before the season.