“I’m in a hurry to be a foreign starting pitcher. It’s nice to have one, but health comes first.”
Doosan Bears coach Lee Seung-yeop watched foreign starting pitcher Dylan Pyle (27) pitch at the bullpen pitching field at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on the 12th, and could not completely let go of his mind. Behind Dylan, he also stood at bat next to the bullpen catcher, carefully examining his pitches and determined that he hadn’t gotten up enough to play.
Dylan himself is having an embarrassing time as he left with a bone injury during the spring camp in Australia at the end of February. It was an unexpected accident that no one expected after being hit in the head by a batted ball during live pitching. Dylan, a former prospect for the Milwaukee Brewers in the US Major League, drew a big picture of building a career in Korea and returning to the big leagues. As it is a new challenge and opportunity, it must be frustrating since he prepared it with enthusiasm and stopped regardless of his will.
Dylan originally scheduled to pitch 30 to 40 pitches that day, 메이저놀이터but he only put the ball down after throwing a total of 51 pitches. He did not have the stamina to throw all 50 pitches because he was not in full condition, but it showed his will to get on the mound as soon as possible. Coach Lee predicted that he would need more preparation until his return, saying, “It was good until the 30th pitch, but after that, the ball came in a little loose.”
On this day, key Doosan officials also came to the bullpen pitching ground to watch Dylan’s pitch. He invested 650,000 dollars (approximately 800 million won), but since he couldn’t utilize a single game, it was natural to wonder how far he had recovered his physical condition.
Doosan has a painful memory of wasting 1.95 million dollars (approximately 2.5 billion won) last year without even using it properly. Ariel Miranda (34), who was an ace, won the regular season MVP with 28 games, 14 wins, 173⅔ innings, 225 strikeouts, and an average ERA of 2.33 in 2021, so it was a natural step for Doosan to pursue a renewal last year.
Doosan gave Miranda a whopping $1.9 million without an option and gave her special treatment, but she did not know that it would lead to the worst outcome. Miranda complained of shoulder pain ahead of the opening game, and packed his bags until the first half of the season did not recover. Doosan had to spend additional money as it recruited Brandon Waddell (29) for 230,000 dollars (about 300 million won) as a replacement.
Dylan is different from Miranda’s case in terms of an accident of injustice, but it is clear that Doosan is taking a big power loss anyway. Last year, Doosan endured the first half without Miranda, but eventually suffered an overload on the mound and fell to ninth place in the regular season. Currently, young guns such as Choi Seung-yong and Kim Dong-ju are showing off their talents on the starting mound, but it is important that Dylan join them as soon as possible to fight for the top ranks until the end of the season.
Dylan will pitch one more bullpen on the 14th. At this time, he tries to throw 70 or 80 pitches. Even if he gets a passing score in his next bullpen pitching, it is expected that it will take more time for him to lead to the actual mound.
Manager Lee said, “(Dylan is currently) not in perfect condition, but in a state of being built. He is not in good condition to play. It is difficult to leave the game right away because it is the third pitching in the bullpen. (The injured part) is the head, so we It is difficult to arbitrarily decide. It is a situation where we have to wait until the doctor says we can go to the game,” he said, emphasizing that more patience is needed right now.