The KIA Tigers have set a super strong ground for waiver disclosure of two foreign pitchers at the same time, 10 days before registering foreign players to be used in the postseason.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced waivers of foreign pitchers Will Crow (30) and Cam Aldred (28) of the Kia Tigers on Wednesday. It was hours after Kia removed Aldred from its entry list.
Crow’s farewell was already scheduled. Crow, who was recruited for a total of 1 million dollars (about 1.4 billion won) this season, felt elbow pain during bullpen pitching on May 8 and was later diagnosed with partial damage to the medial collateral ligament in his right elbow. He underwent cross-examination in Korea and the U.S., and was virtually out for the season after undergoing surgery in the U.S. on May 31 due to Tommy John Surgery. With this, Crow will leave the KBO League with a record of 5-1 with a 3.57 ERA in eight games.
However, Crowe remained with Kia for nearly two months until he was released on the day. It was because of his future as a temporary substitute for foreign player on May 29. Instead of replacing Crowe immediately, Kia tried to recruit him through an alternative foreign player system that was first introduced in the KBO league this season.
The system could have been used if there were outsiders who needed rehabilitation for more than six weeks, but only the conditions that would be activated were specified in the KBO regulations, but the contract period of the replacement player was not specified. KIA, which was not sure whether Crow would have surgery even when considering recruiting Aldred, signed a total of $325,000 (about 400 million won) with Aldred in case Crow failed to return. Aldred was best to adapt well, but he was able to replace him with another player at the end of the day.
Aldred was disappointed that the split between left and right sides was clearly different. While Aldred had a strong batting average of 0.150, 0 homers, 0.385 on-base plus slugging (on-base plus slugging) of 0.385 and 0.72 on-base plus WHIP against left-handed hitters, he had a batting average of 0.277, 0.805 on-base plus 1.70 on-base hitters, which was below the league average. This led to deviation of certain teams (Dusan, Samsung) and lack of innings and was a decisive reason for his expulsion. In the end, Aldred ended his short 10-week KBO career with three wins, two losses and an ERA of 4.53 in nine games.
Even if it was a result of Crow’s waivers, Aldred’s replacement was an adventure and a super-strong player for KIA. It was not a day or two for Aldred to reveal his limitations, but Kia has been agonizing over the trade deadline as the foreign market this year has no more players than usual.
However, the decision also seems to be imminent. After the trade deadline, rumors spread in the baseball community that KIA had contacted Eric Lauer (29) from the Milwaukee Brewers. And shortly after, Lauer wrote down the KIA Tigers on his personal SNS, making the reality even clearer. Aldred was expected to start against Hanwha in Daejeon on the 4th, but it was canceled due to the cancellation of the rain. He could have started on the 6th as scheduled, but KIA announced Kim Do-hyun as a starter on the 5th, and Lauer’s recruitment became a fait accompli as news of Aldred’s exclusion of the first-team entry and the announcement of waivers came a few hours later.
Lauer from Ohio State is a left-hander who was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the first round of the 2016 MLB Rookie Draft. He made his big league debut in 2018, and moved to the Milwaukee Brewers in 2020 to display his full capacity. From 2021 to 2022, he made his name as a promising starting resource, recording 18 wins and 12 losses with an ERA of 3.47 and WHIP (on-base allowed per inning) of 1.12 and strikeouts per 9 innings in 53 games (49 starts). 먹튀검증
It was advantageous to know how to skillfully differentiate various balls such as cutters, sliders, and curves with an average speed of 93.3 miles (about 150.1 kilometers). In particular, the fastball that sticks powerfully at the top of the strike zone was attractive, and like Aldred, the change-up against right-handed hitters was not effective, but instead, the cutter was used well.
However, all of these advantages were until May 2023 when he was listed as injured due to right shoulder collision syndrome. It was not the shoulder of the throwing arm, but since then, the elbow injury has overlapped and the pain from the two places has put Lauer under psychological pressure. Eventually, last year’s fastball speed fell to an average of 90.8 miles per hour (about 146.1 kilometers), and in practice, it collapsed significantly with a 6.56 ERA in 10 big league games. In the end, his major league career ended with 36 wins and 37 losses with a 4.30 ERA and 567 strikeouts in 596 ⅔ innings.
However, Lauer says he became more mature after receiving mental coaching along with rehabilitation last winter. According to another media outlet, MLB Trade Rumors, when he was traded from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Houston Astros in May, he was praised for reminding him of Lauer during the 2021-2022 season.
In the KBO league, the key to victory seems to be whether Lauer can display his previous performance even with a broken fastball. After the injury, Lauer lost his fastball speed, which caused his ball control to falter significantly due to the lack of conventional pitching design. However, as left-handers who throw 146 kilometers per hour on average are rarely seen in the KBO league, and he was evaluated as adhering to breaking balls, it is worth having high expectations.
