The greatest K-machine ever… The pain is gone.
Drew Anderson (30-SSG), the foreign-born replacement for Robert Duggar, has been bombing the strike zone as of late after an adjustment period in the KBO. Armed with a fastball that sits in the mid-100s and a curveball and changeup, he’s been striking out a ton of batters.
While a high strikeout rate doesn’t necessarily make a pitcher a good pitcher, the ability to get rid of pitches in play is a quality that a good pitcher should have. In that regard, Anderson has the ingredients for success. Through 25 games, Anderson has struck out 13.42 batters per nine innings this season. That’s one of the best rates in KBO history, even though he hasn’t yet reached regulation.
Then Anderson scratched another strikeout. On Saturday, Anderson started against Doosan at SSG Landers Field in Incheon and threw 102 pitches over 6 1/3 innings, allowing five hits (one home run), one walk, 11 strikeouts, and one earned run to lead the team to a 6-1 victory and his seventh win of the season. The game was crucial for the team as they had lost three straight games to fall to .500, and Anderson was up to the task.
From the start of the game, the team was full of energy. His recent momentum seemed to carry over, and there was no sign of fatigue on his pitches. Anderson’s fastball has always been one of his best pitches. But he didn’t have a changeup to back it up, so hitters were gunning for his fastball, and when it was down the middle, it was easy prey. I didn’t have the fastballs to counteract that. But lately, he’s been finding his curveball and changeup and making hitters’ heads hurt. That was on full display today.
In the top of the first inning, he struck out Jung Soo-bin on a curveball, and Jeon Min-jae struck out on a swinging strike with his signature high fastball. In fact, when you look at the location of the ball, you think, ‘Why swing at it,’ but the Doosan hitters, who also have to think about the changeup, couldn’t get the timing right when the eye-level fastball came in and the bat spun. The ball had power.
In the second inning, Yang struck out Yang Ji on three pitches with a strong fastball. Yang then dropped a curveball in a favorable count for another strikeout. Kim Jae-hwan also faced a cutter and fastball before dropping a four-pitch curveball to induce a ground ball.
In the third inning, he struck out Park Jun-young on a cutter. It was a good pitch, and he got out of the inning without allowing a run to score. The team took the pressure off Anderson with a four-run lead after Park’s RBI single in the second and Heredia’s three-run homer in the third.
Anderson struck out Yang Seok-hwan with a curveball two batters later in the fourth inning, and then struck out Kim Jae-hwan on a cutter for a walk in the fifth. He gave up a solo home run to Park Jun-young, but settled down by striking out the next batter, Lee Yoo-chan, on a fastball. He also struck out Jeon Min-jae in the sixth inning, giving him 11 Ks on the day.
It was Anderson’s third straight game with double-digit strikeouts, following his 10 strikeouts in 6⅔ innings against Lotte on April 11 and 11 strikeouts in six innings against Kiwoom on April 19. It was just the eighth time in KBO history that this has happened, something that doesn’t happen often.
The all-time record for this category is five games in a row held by Sun Dong-yeol (Haetae). Sun Dong-yeol holds the all-time record for double-digit 파워볼사이트 추천 strikeouts in five consecutive games from August 8, 1991, against Daejeon Bingre to August 30, 1991, against Incheon Pacific. No player has recorded four consecutive games since.
The three-game streaks were recorded by Kim Ki-beom (LG) in 1992 and Joo Hyung-kwang (Lotte) in 1996 and 1999. In the 21st century, it was accomplished by Yoon Hee-sang (SK) in 2013, Dustin Nippert (Doosan) in 2016, and most recently by Ariel Miranda (Doosan) in 2021. Miranda was also a strikeout machine, recording double-digit strikeouts in three consecutive games from July 1, 2021 against Daejeon Hanwha to August 14, 2021 against Gochuk Kiwoom. Anderson followed in her footsteps. In his next start, Anderson will attempt to become just the second pitcher in history to strike out in four consecutive games. It’s a tall order, but not impossible given his recent pace.
Anderson was pleased with how he felt after the game. “First of all, I feel really good. I think that’s why I was able to play the game,” he said, adding, ”I think the most important thing was to stick with what I had prepared.”
At first, Anderson struggled with his changeup because he couldn’t adjust to the KBO’s official ball. “The ball is completely different, so it took me about the first three games to get a feel for it,” he admitted, but he said, ”I think I’ve gotten a good feel for it now.” “I think I’ve got the hang of it now,” he smiled, ‘I just have to throw it hard and keep my curveball in,’ he said. He doesn’t seem to be overthinking the strikeouts.
SSG will eventually need a strong starting pitcher to compete down the stretch, and the team is counting on Anderson to deliver. Anderson knows there are more important games to come. “I have to stay in shape,” Anderson said. I think the key will be to get a good night’s sleep,” he said, setting himself a simple goal. If Anderson’s strong pitching continues, SSG will be able to gain a foothold in the fall baseball scene. He was a non-contract player at the beginning of his KBO career, but now he’s a clear candidate for re-signing, making Duggar’s heartbreak a distant memory.