There will be no Korean pitchers in Major League Baseball in 2024. Until last year, Korean pitchers were wiped out when Ryu Hyun-jin (37-Korea Eagles), who had been in the majors for 11 years, returned to South Korea. Reliever Go Woo-seok (26-Miami Marlins), who signed with the San Diego Padres this year to try his luck in the U.S., has yet to make his debut, having been traded after a stint in the minors.
Only two other hitters, infielder Kim Ha-seong (29-San Diego) and outfielder Lee Jung-hoo (26-San Francisco Giants), are in the major leagues. For the time being, there is no domestic pitching talent that can challenge for the major leagues, and fireballers Shim Jun-seok (20-Pittsburgh Pirates) and Jang Hyun-seok (20-LA Dodgers), who went straight to the U.S., need time in the minors to develop.
The Japanese pitching staff, on the other hand, is in contrast, with more pitchers than ever before performing at an exceptional level. Seven Japanese pitchers are in the majors this year, including 12-year veteran Darvish Yu (38-San Diego Padres), Genta Maeda (36-Detroit Tigers), Yusei Kikuchi (33-Toronto Blue Jays), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (26-Dodgers), 카지노사이트 Shota Imanaga (31-Chicago Cubs), Yuki Matsui (29-San Diego), and Naoyuki Uwasawa (30-Boston Red Sox).
Three of these pitchers are in the running for the Cy Young Award.
MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball, asked 41 experts to vote in a mock poll for the two major league awards on Thursday, with 25 percent of the season’s schedule completed. The first through fifth place votes were worth five points, four points, three points, two points, and one point, respectively, and the total score was calculated, and the names of three Japanese pitchers, Imanaga and Yamamoto in the National League (NL) and Kikuchi in the American League (AL), emerged.
Imana, in particular, was ranked as the top NL Cy Young candidate with three total votes, including nine first-place votes, behind Zack Wheeler (Philadelphia Phillies) and Tyler Glasnow (Dodgers). As MLB.com notes, “To say Imanaga has adjusted to the majors smoothly might be a bit of an understatement. Imanaga, who signed a four-year, $53 million deal with the Cubs in the offseason, is off to a historically great start to his major league career. His 0.96 ERA is the fourth-lowest through eight starts (at least 40 innings) since ERAs became an official record in both leagues in 1913.
Not only does he lead the majors in that category, but his WHIP ranks fifth in the NL (0.94).
Imanaga, who pitched well against the Atlanta Braves on Thursday with five innings of seven-hit, three-run ball with eight strikeouts and no walks, was unable to get the win due to lack of offensive support, but he is 5-0 with a 0.96 ERA and 51 strikeouts in eight starts (46⅔ innings), which leads the league. The left-hander averages 92 miles per hour (148.1 km/h) and 2427 revolutions per minute (RPM) on his four-seam fastball, and his primary weapon, the splitter, has a 47.7 percent batted ball induction rate.
Yamamoto, who entered the majors with a 12-year, $325 million contract, the most expensive ever for a pitcher, also received votes for the NL Cy Young Award despite not making the top five. In nine games (47⅔ innings), he is 4-1 with a 3.21 ERA, 53 strikeouts and a 1.03 WHIP. He opened the Seoul Series on March 21 with five runs in one inning, but has since stabilized with four wins and a 2.31 ERA in eight starts. He doesn’t have the power he had in Japan, but he has shown stability.
Kikuchi, a left-hander in his sixth year in the big leagues, also had a career-high season and received votes for the AL Cy Young Award. In eight games (47⅔ innings), he is 2-3 with a 2.64 ERA, 46 strikeouts, and a 1.05 WHIP. The left-handed fireballer has improved his fastball, which has been a weakness, and is now a calculated pitcher.
He’s walking just 1.7 batters per nine innings this year.
Add to that the veteran Darvish, who is still pitching like an ace with a 3-1 record in eight games (40⅔ innings) with a 2.43 ERA, 37 strikeouts and a 0.98 WHIP. Fellow left-hander Matsui has also made a smooth transition in his first year in the big leagues, going 2-4 with a 3.86 ERA, 13 strikeouts and a 1.34 WHIP in 20 games (18⅔ innings).
Maeda has struggled, going 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA in seven games (30⅔ innings), while Uwasawa has been sent back down to the minors after two games (four innings, one earned run), but there’s also Senga Godai (31-New York Mets), who was an All-Star in his rookie year last year and finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. Senga, 메이저 토토사이트 who started the season on the disabled list with shoulder soreness, is aiming to return in June after a lengthy rehabilitation.
Next year, we could see even more Japanese pitchers than this year. Shohei Ohtani (30, Dodgers), who has been limited to a designated hitter this year due to elbow surgery and rehabilitation, will be back on the mound next year. Major League scouts are also very interested in Roki Sasaki (23, Chiba Lotte Marines), a 169-kilometer-per-hour fireballer who has a strong desire to make it to the big leagues by posting. There could be as many as 10 Japanese pitchers in the majors next year. With such a huge talent pool, it’s hard not to be envious of Japanese baseball.