LG Twins foreign pitcher Casey Kelly (35) has already become a long-lived foreign player in the KBO League for six years. It is very difficult for a foreign player who has to perform well every year to survive for a long time in the KBO League. Kelly, who has always been an ace, also suffered the biggest crisis in his fifth year last year. Kelly suffered from six wins and five losses, 107 ⅓ innings and a 4.44 ERA in 18 games in the first half, and was embroiled in rumors of his release. Although he was a pitcher who had accumulated wins of around 15 wins for four consecutive years from 2019 to 2022, there were rumors that he would be released due to a brief crisis.
Kelly took it for granted rather than being disappointed. Kelly said, "I think baseball is a business. Every team tries to win. If you need a replacement for a foreigner to win, you have to do it. You do what the club has to do and try to get in the direction where the team can win. I understand that," adding that the only answer is to prove the value of survival.
He completely changed after realizing it in the second half of this year. He won four games and lost two, pitched 71 ⅓, and posted an earned run average of 2.90, to achieve his 10th win in this season. As LG topped the regular season list, he significantly served as an ace in the Korean Series. He started two games and garnered one win, 11 ⅓ innings, and an earned run average of 1.59, and lifted the trophy with his teammates from LG that he shared for the past five years. He is also spending his sixth season in Korea as he renewed his contract with LG for a total of 1.5 million U.S. dollars this year.
Kelly started against the Doosan Bears in Jamsil on the 12th and failed to win (one loss) for the first time in four games of the season, pitching well with two hits, two walks, eight strikeouts and one run (non-ERA) in seven innings. He did his part with 25 innings and a 2.88 ERA in four games, but his luck did not follow. Kelly persevered silently and proved his ace's value once again as he became the winning pitcher at the most difficult moment when his team lost three consecutive games.
Kelly confessed that he was agonizing over how to survive ahead of this season. "As you know, I had the most difficult season in Korea last year. I tried a few new things during the off-season, and I refined my sweeper with one of them. And I spent time refining my splitter, which was something I used in the Korean Series," he said.
"Since I have been active in the KBO league for the past five years, hitters are well aware of my personality, so I had to find a way to cook my hitters in a new way. I spent a lot of time on that. I spent a lot of time looking for a way to cook my hitters in a slightly different way because they came out after calculating what I threw," he added.
In order to add another factor to the curveball, he added a sweeper. "Since the curveball was the deciding ball and I used it like that for five years, I tried to disturb batters in a different way because batters knew and thought 'Kelly is a curveball'. I tried to distract batters by throwing a fastball toward my body and then throwing a sweeper that moves in the same trajectory as the fastball," Kelly said.
While there was no victory, he could have been anxious because of his memories of last year, but Kelly persisted. "It's actually very difficult to win one game in the KBO League. The quality of the batters is high. I didn't push myself. I didn't think I would end this season with zero wins, and I didn't think I would definitely win one game this year. I think it was the main effect that I focused on what I could control."
LG was able to win 2-1 thanks to back-to-back timely hits by Moon Sung-joo and pinch hitter Koo Bon-hyuk at the first and second bases with one out in the top of the seventh inning when the team was losing 0-1. Kelly, who was warming up in the bullpen before taking the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning, once again burned his fighting spirit while watching the situation.
Kelly said, "I had a sense of responsibility to protect this lead because the fielders turned the game around by drawing points. I took that responsibility to the mound and decided to win, but rather than preventing this inning, I thought we should catch the leadoff hitter first. I thought if I catch the leadoff hitter, I will catch the next batter and do it one by one. I think I finished well because I only thought about each pitch."
Taking advantage of the win, Kelly said, "I believed that LG would be able to advance to higher ground." As of Thursday, LG is tied with the Hanwha Eagles in fifth place with nine wins, eight losses and one draw. To win the title for the second consecutive year, LG still has a long way to go.
Kelly said, "Actually, baseball is not easy. It's a sport that has a much higher chance of failure than success. If you look at our team structure, there are so many veterans and experienced players. So I definitely think we'll find a solution and get back on track. As you can see, it's true that we're not playing the best baseball we can yet. We're having a little bit of a hard time, but I definitely believe that our players are working hard until the end and working hard every day. I think our players will overcome this difficulty and find a solution for sure." Like him who wrote the reversal drama last year.
BY: 스포츠토토핫