The reason why the NC Dinos are not considered a candidate for the top five this season is the mound. There is a lot of uncertainty. There are not many players who are sure of Abidge. This year, head coach Lee Ho-joon has a task to present a blueprint for the mound even though he is running a race for the top five.

After all, the role of the two foreign pitchers – Logan Allen (28) and Riley Thompson (29) – is important. If they display one-two punchy performances, Lee Ho-joon can run a long-term race based on them. First of all, they got off to a good start. They confirmed their competitiveness against the Kia Tigers, who have the strongest lineup in the league.메이저놀이터

Logan allowed four hits, five strikeouts, one walk and one run during six innings at the opening match on Tuesday. He was the star who was agonizing over Lee Ho-joon as he only had 135 kilometers of maximum speed limit at the Tainan Spring camp in Taiwan. However, he increased his speed to mid-140 kilometers in actual matches with Taiwanese professional teams.

Logan's biggest strength is various types of pitches. He said he can beat Kim Do-young (22), and he can throw seven balls beyond the six pitches he uses. He had a maximum depth of 146 kilometers, followed by change-up, cutter and slider, curveball and two-seam. He also uses two types of sliders in Vulcan change-up, which tends to be more like a forkball.

The greater the number of pitches, the greater the number of cases of ball combinations. He also has a good command. Coach Lee Ho-joon hoped that the four-seam speed would increase by 2-3 kilometers, but he is still on a good level. After taking the mound at the opening game, Logan told Riley, "See? You should do this, too." Coach Lee Ho-joon laughed that foreign players also have such competitive edge.

"Rogan has a lot of leeway on the mound and throws the ball with a well-designed pitching design," coach Lee Ho-joon said. "His control is stable. Personally, I hope he can speed up 2-3 kilometers more. If he's an older player, I don't know if he's an older player, but since he's a younger player, he will improve his pitching capability. If that's the case, I think it will be easier to use the completed balls. He only makes good choices and is a hard ball to hit."

Was Riley influenced by Logan's performance at the opening game? At the game on Sunday, he had four hits (one homer), five strikeouts, three walks and three runs (two earned) in five ⅓ innings. Although he has no major league experience, he is a fireballer who shoots mid to late 150 kilometers. He flew 156 kilometers on the day. He threw sliders, fork balls and curves.

Several well-hit balls were directed directly to the fielder. However, he did not have many actual throws. His control and command were good, too. The movements of fork balls and curves were also better than expected. Manager Lee Ho-joon said, "This player has good speed. The ratio of strikes and balls is important. There should be timing to throw breaking balls. Throwing 160 kilometers, balls and balls...The batter can hit the ball with the point in front of him. If you have an idea of a breaking ball, the balls will actually be a foul and the difference between 1-1 and 0-2 will be completely different. If such a situation is made well, I will go comfortably, otherwise I may struggle a little more."

The number of pitches was somewhat higher at exhibition games. "If I catch a little more accurate than striking out, I think I can reduce the number of pitches," Lee Ho-joon said. In that sense, it is inevitable that the fact that Riley blocked five ⅓ innings at the opening game with 97 pitches also increases the number of pitches. Instead, he needs to give Riley enough time.

Riley said through his club, "I prepared for the game by analyzing information on AFA players through the data analysis cloud and pitching accordingly before the game. Since I prepared everything I could before the game, I pitched with full confidence in my ball during the game. KIA's batting lineup's persistent swing was amazing, and as a result, I used more sliders instead of curves, which is my main weapon. I think it's one of the things I did well that my fastball speed was satisfactory and I didn't avoid the opponent's batter throughout the game."