“The first-up means nothing until we get to the postseason. The team comes first, the team goes to the playoffs.”
Ryan Weiss (28), the first starting pitcher of the Hanwha Eagles, has made remarkable progress recently. Since August, when the team entered the fall baseball race in earnest, the team has been leading the team with three wins and two losses, 39 innings and an ERA of 2.08 in six games. Thanks to Weiss’ solid performance as the first starter, Hanwha has advanced from ninth to sixth with 59 wins, 63 losses and two ties for this season. This is a distance that is far more than enough to reach fourth place, with a gap of one game against fifth-ranked KT Wiz and 1.5 games against fourth-ranked Doosan Bears.
Weiss started the game against the Kia Tigers in Gwangju on Sunday and made another achievement. He pitched just 69 pitches through the seventh inning against the Kia Tigers, who boasts the best firepower in the league, to continue his no-hitter streak. Weiss pitched hard enough 92 pitches, three hits (one homer), no four strikeouts, eight strikeouts, and one run in seven ⅔ innings, laying the groundwork for Hanwha to win 5-4 after a close game going into the 10th inning.
Weiss posted a maximum speed of 153 kilometers and an average speed of 150 kilometers. While pushing with 44 fastballs, he added 27 sliders with 131 to 140 kilometers of speed and 18 curves with 124 to 131 kilometers of speed with three fork balls. His aggressive pitching was effective as he had 66 strikes among 92 pitches.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Weiss had 14 consecutive hitters and a perfect score until he sent out Kim Sun-bin to the third base by throwing a grounder to the third base. He did not falter after letting go of the runner by mistake. Weiss also dreamed of becoming the 15th hitter in history by continuing his seven-base hitters streak through the seventh inning.
When Na Sung-bum, the leadoff hitter at the bottom of the eighth inning with a 4-0 lead, gave a solo shot to the center of the wall, Weiss’ challenge to no run was over in no time. Na Sung-bum did not miss the fourth slider at the ball count 2-1.
After allowing a home run, Weiss quickly increased his out-count by striking out Kim Sun-bin and Lee Woo-sung. However, he allowed hits to Han Jun-su and Park Jung-woo in succession, putting him on the verge of being at the first and second bases with two outs. Yang Sang-moon, the pitching coach, visited the mound for the first time when Han Jun-su was allowed a hit, and gave Weiss a chance to take responsibility, but when Park Jung-woo had a hit, he immediately visited the mound and stole Weiss’ ball. Weiss’ face was full of regrets that he could not finish it in person. Park Sang-won, who took over Weiss’ ball, quickly stopped the flow by grounding the next batter, Park Chan-ho, to the third baseman. At that time, third baseman Noh Si-hwan fell, caught a tricky ball, and threw it accurately to the first base.
Weiss’ requirement to win was lost in the ninth inning. Park Sang-won allowed a timely hit, which was chased 4-2 by Na Sung-bum, and closer Joo Hyun-sang was hit by Kim Sun-bin with a tying two-run home run after two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. As the winning team was shaken, Hanwha felt like it would collapse to KIA as it was, but when Euro Gyeol struck out swinging with one out and third base in the top of the 10th inning, third baseman Jang Jin-hyuk scored a valuable run due to his bold rushing home.
Weiss was not satisfied with his quality pitching. “Today (April 4) was a very stressful game. Consequently, I am really satisfied that our team won the playoff. I think I am calming down my excitement a little bit now that the game is over. Some of the stressors were that I hit a home run by Na Sung-bum at the end, and others sent runners down to the first and second bases. I felt complicated in general that I had to play the game until the playoff,” he said, blaming himself for not fulfilling his duties as an ace.
He expressed his gratitude to the bullpen, which took over on his behalf. Weiss said, “I trusted our bullpen. I want to praise Park in particular. Park also showed an MVP-class performance in August, and I was disappointed that I came down in the eighth inning. That I came down is such a regret that I didn’t finish the inning. I always have a little bit of regrets in my heart,” he said, expressing his gratitude to the bullpen, which shared his responsibilities.
I was satisfied that Hanwha was close to the fall baseball season. Weiss said, “I think today’s victory was very big. It was a big match today, and I think it’s very important for each of the five games. So I will try to win as many games as possible in the remaining games. I think the rest of the games in September will be a lot of fun. I will try to win as many games as possible.”
Weiss first signed a contract with Hanwha on June 17 on the condition of $100,000 (about 100 million won) for six weeks. Weiss has no major league experience in the U.S., but he has 17 wins and 14 losses, 313 ⅓ innings, and a 4.88 ERA in 132 games (47 starts) in five minor league seasons. Last year, he experienced Asian baseball while playing for Fubang Guardians, a Taiwanese professional baseball team, and this year, he was continuing his career in the U.S. independent league. Hanwha recruited Weiss, who is 193 centimeters tall and uses various breaking balls such as sweeper, sinker, curve, slider, and change-up.
In fact, Hanwha couldn’t easily give up Ricardo Sanchez, a left-hander who throws a fastball over 150km. If Sanchez had been able to recover from his elbow injury and get back on the mound, Weiss could have played and packed for six weeks as an alternative foreigner in Hanwha. In any case, as Sanchez eventually packed up due to his injury, Weiss quickly established himself as the first starter as he signed a formal foreign contract with Hanwha for a total of $260,000 on July 28. It is no exaggeration to say that Weiss is a very big part of Hanwha’s five-way battle.
Weiss didn’t put much importance on leading the five-way race as the first starter. “The meaning of the first round doesn’t mean anything until we go to the postseason,” he said. “The team comes first, and the team goes to the playoffs. Whether we finish fifth or fourth, we will do our best to help the team go to the playoffs.” 안전놀이터
