“A pitcher with more innings is better than a pitcher with more wins.”
He has seven wins in the first half. He’s the team’s top pitcher with more wins than legendary ace Yang Hyun-jong, who has five. However, we don’t give him the title of ace yet. That’s because he can’t get rid of his nerves. We’re talking about Lee Yi-ri, a third-year left-handed starter for the KIA Tigers.
On April 8, Lee took the mound against the KT Wiz at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, South Korea, and pitched five shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks while striking out eight to lead his team to a 7-0 victory and his seventh win of the season.
On the surface, the performance looked good. He gave up just three hits and walked just two. But it was shaky.
After scoring two runs in the first inning, Lee was forced to pitch with runners on first and second in all but four innings: a walk and an error in the first inning, a double in the second inning to put runners on first and second, a double in the third inning to put runners on second and third, and a hit, walk, and wild pitch in the fifth inning.
So I threw a lot of pitches. We threw 99 pitches until the fifth inning, and the bullpen came in from the sixth inning. Fortunately, the bullpen did a good job of shutting down the KT bats, and the extra runs came in for a 7-0 victory.
“Lee Yi-ri is a pitcher with good luck,” said KIA manager Kim Jong-guk, “He has already won seven games, even though it’s hard.”
Lee’s only weakness is his innings pitched. He throws 20.3 pitches per inning. He averages only 4⅔ innings per game. The cause is his fastball. Lots of balls. In 73 innings, he walked a whopping 62 batters. This is the most in the KBO.
If you’re a manager, who do you prefer: a pitcher with a winning record or a pitcher with a lot of innings without much success?
“To be honest, I like pitchers who throw a lot of innings,” Kim said.
“Even if they’re not going to be the winning pitcher, if the starters throw a lot, the players behind them are more likely to win. If you pitch fewer innings, the middle pitchers are overloaded. If you throw a lot of innings, it will be calculated in the later game,” he said, adding, “It would be better if you could add half a run to the win.” 안전놀이터
The pitcher with the most innings per game this season is KT’s Ko Young-pyo. He pitched 6⅓ innings per game. Kiwoom Heroes’ Ahn Woo-jin and Ariel Furado, Choi Won-tae and Doosan Bears’ Raul Alcantara, Samsung Lions’ David Buchanan and Won Tae-in, and LG Twins’ Adam Plutko have averaged six innings apiece.
The pitcher with the most innings for KIA is Yang Hyun-jong. He pitched 5⅔ innings per game. Shawn Anderson, who was parted ways with the club, pitched 5⅓ innings.