Conor Seabold (28), the ace of the Samsung Lions, who left for the U.S. ahead of the fall baseball season due to an unexpected injury, apologized, saying, “I’m sorry.”
Connor Seabold posted a lengthy post written in Korean, not English, on his personal SNS (social network service) on the 2nd.
“To Samsung fans,” Connor said, “Thank you so much for this year. Thank you so much for all the love and support I received from fans. And I’m so sorry that I didn’t take the mound in the postseason.”
“The part where I was injured needed time to rehabilitate and realistically lacked time. You’ve made a lot of efforts to help me return faster in the training part, but we all had limitations. The past month has been such a disappointing month for me,” he said.
Connor said, “Like you, I had high expectations to help the team win. In the end, it was to become the KBO League champion. These thoughts made it difficult for me to sleep every night. I’m so sorry. I wish I could have been more helpful.”
Connor joined Samsung just ahead of this season and played as an ace. He pitched in 28 games this season, displaying 11 wins, 6 losses and an earned run average of 3.43. During 160 innings, Connor posted 135 hits (21 homers), 40 walks, 158 strikeouts, 67 runs (61 earned runs), WHIP (per-inning allowance) 1.09 and a batting average of 0.226. He pitched 13 quality starts (less than three earned runs in six innings as a starter). He also had one shutout victory. Notably, he played 5 wins, 1 loss and an earned run average of 2.76 in 10 games in the second half, raising expectations among Samsung fans for his stellar performance in fall baseball.
However, Connor was no longer on the mound after the match against Hanwha in Daejeon on Sept. 11. Connor was out of the lineup after suffering a right scapula injury. Connor was eventually excluded from the first-team roster, but was never listed in the playoffs. Connor left for the U.S. ahead of his playoff camp. 메이저사이트
Samsung coach Park Jin-man said of Connor during the playoffs, “I decided that it would be better to focus on treatment while having a family and stable psychology than to be in Korea. My doctor is also in the U.S. If I go to the Korean Series, I said, ‘I will come as hard as I can by working on rehabilitation as I can,’ and left.” Connor, however, failed to come back, and Samsung failed to overcome the absence of a foreign ace, and ended up as runner-up.
Connor said, “Nevertheless, I really appreciate being able to play in such an amazing team this season. Everyone expected us to be at the bottom, but we made it to the Korean Series. Now I’m really proud of my teammates like brothers. We didn’t achieve the results we wanted, but this season was a proud season.”
Connor continued, “All of this would have been impossible without the fans. Thank you so much for making me, my foreign colleagues, and my family feel like home. You are the heart of Samsung. We were able to have such an excellent season because we felt your energy throughout the season. Thank you for making this year so special. I don’t know what my future holds, but I’m truly grateful to my teammates and their fans. Way to go, Samsung.”
