The Hanwha Eagles seems to have ended their long-standing atrocities as foreign pitchers. Two foreign pitchers – Cody Ponce (31) and Ryan Weiss (29) – have already won 10 games together. On the day the two pitchers took the mound as starters, the Hanwha Eagles has a whopping 80 percent winning rate. Even "Monster" Ryu Hyun-jin (38) is leading the Hanwha starting pitcher lineup.온라인바카라
Hanwha won the match against KIA in Gwangju 3-1 on the 4th, continuing its six-game winning streak. Starting pitcher Cody Ponce overwhelmed KIA's slugging line with two hits, two walks, five strikeouts and one run (non-earned) in seven innings, and earned his sixth win of the season. KIA ace James Nail also pitched well in seven innings with three hits, one walk, two walks, 10 strikeouts and one run, but Ponce won the decision.
Until this day, Ponce had a 0.92 batting average of 186, with six wins and no losses in eight games (53 innings), 66 strikeouts with 1.70 strikeouts. He has the best record in the league with only one strikeout, tied for first in multiple wins and innings, second in WHIP and hit rate, and third in ERA. Since the sixth inning against Doosan Bears in Jamsil on the 9th of last month, he has been on an earned run streak for the last 29 consecutive innings.
He throws powerful pitches with maximum speed of 157 kilometers per hour, kick changeup that drops like a fork ball, sharp slider and curveball wherever he wants to throw. He is a staminer who keeps his ball speed even after hitting 100 pitches, and is capable of digesting innings. He is a "super foreign pitcher" that the Hanwha Eagles have never had before. In eight games where the Ponce was released, the Hanwha Eagles has recorded seven wins and one loss.
He is not as overwhelming or stable as Ponce, but he is also keeping the baton. He has four wins and one loss with an earned run average of 4.35 strikeouts and 47 WHIPs with a batting average of 24.48 percent in seven games (41 ⅓ innings). He has displayed good pace by winning the last four consecutive games.
Weiss is a right-handed fireballer who throws up to 158 kilometers in maximum speed, and although he has not as diverse pitches as Ponce, he has one of the best pitches in the Sweeper league. As the ratio of change-ups against left-handed hitters has increased, he seems to be gaining stability. He also has five QS starts, one less than Ponce (six games). Hanwha also won five games and lost two in seven games where Weiss came out.
In 15 games in which Ponce and Weiss started, Hanwha had 12 wins and 3 losses, reaching an 80 percent winning rate. Currently, Hanwha is the only team in the KBO league where a foreign pitcher has won a total of 10 games. The team has a faster winning pace than the other nine teams, including LG, Lotte (seven wins), KIA (six wins), Samsung, Doosan (five wins), KT, NC (four wins), SSG and Kiwoom (three wins).
The combined ERA of foreign pitchers stands at 2.86 to rank fourth after KIA (2.16), Samsung (2.79) and SSG (2.83), but QS is tied for first with KIA with 11 games. Most importantly, playing the most innings with a total of 94 ⅓ innings relieves the burden on the bullpen. Ponce pitched five or more innings in all eight games, and Weiss played six or more innings except for one in four ⅔ innings. Both of them are so eager to win the game that they could face even one more inning.
Along with Ponce and Weiss, Hanwha has become the only team with five pitchers, including Ryu Hyun-jin, Moon Dong-ju (three wins) and Um Sang-baek (one win), to win the league's largest number of 17 starts. Korean pitchers are also playing their part, but they play a significant role as foreigners' one-two punch.
Ryu Hyun-jin also cited the two foreign pitchers as the most different parts of his team this year. "Foreign pitchers are doing so well. It's great that Ponce and Weiss both throw six to seven innings in each game to allow middle pitchers to rest," Ryu said. "If the starting pitcher throws such a long inning, the pitchers will be able to go through the entire season without difficulty."
Ponce and Weiss both have 10 or more wins. Warwick Thurfold (12 wins) and Chad Bell (11 wins) are the only foreign pitchers of the Hanwha Eagles who won double-digit wins in 2019. In the same year, 23 wins that the two players jointly won is the season for the most wins among all Hanwha players, and 25 wins or more is highly likely to be possible this year. If the team wins more than 30, Hanwha may be in a race to win first place until the latter half of the season.