It’s a shame. Even the outsider Ace, who should be in charge of ‘stability’, is shaken.
Lotte Giants Charlie Barnes is struggling in the swamp of sluggish exhibition games. It’s 3 matches in a row.
Barnes was sluggish with 8 hits (1 home run) 메이저사이트and 4 runs in 4 innings against the NC Dinos held at Changwon NC Park on the 24th.
Now is the time to prepare for the start of the season. In the case of a starting pitcher, pitches should be raised to 80 to 100 pitches and innings to around 5 innings. Lotte coach Larry Sutton has repeatedly pledged to “actual mode,” saying, “I will play the remaining demonstration games like the regular season.”
However, the anxiety of looking at Barnes does not go away easily. It was Barnes’ third appearance in the demonstration game that day. He doesn’t have a clean-cut fight. His exhibition game average earned run average reaches a whopping 7.36.
Last year, he was a grateful pitcher who supported the team throughout the season. Barnes is the driving force that Lotte has endured despite the sluggish performance of Glenn Sparkman and Kim Jin-wook at the beginning of the season. Although the momentum of 5 wins and an average ERA of 0.65 in April was not maintained, it steadily maintained an ERA of around 4 points until August. In September, he could not overcome repeated fatigue and performed sluggishly.
Lotte chose to renew the contract with Barnes early this season, which they prepared ambitiously by recruiting three free agents. In addition to Barnes, Dan Strayley and Jack Rex all signed again. Prior to the Stove League, it was decided to save energy to be used elsewhere as much as possible and to re-trust the three players who are familiar with calculations rather than aiming for unrivaled skills as large-scale power reinforcement is taking place.
Rex hit a home run that tied the score on the day, making up for a little bit of the disappointment that had stopped in the early 10% range in the demonstration game. Strayley has only played one game so far, so there is little room for evaluation.
However, Barnes faltered against the Doosan Bears on March 14 (4 hits in 3 innings (1 home run) and 2 runs) and on the 18th against the LG Twins (6 hits in 4 innings and 3 runs). Coach Sutton put Barnes on the mound in the 5th inning as well, but he was immediately replaced when the first batter, Park Gun-woo, allowed a solo home run. Although Lotte managed to win 6-5, Barnes’ faltering was bound to be bad news for the team.
Lotte released Seo Jun-won, who was a 5th selection candidate and a key prospect the day before, for being involved in an unintentional criminal act against minors. A situation in which a large part of the power was relieved. If the sluggishness of foreign pitchers, who focused on constants rather than peaks, continues, the entire season plan will be shaken.