The showcase is over. It's time to decide.
SSG Landers are in deep trouble. They have to choose between Roenis Elias and Keisho Shirakawa. In May, when Elias needed treatment for more than six weeks due to his left intraperitoneal muscle injury, he recruited Shirakawa as a "short-term replacement foreign pitcher." Six weeks will pass by early July. You have to decide with whom you will accompany.
After recovering from his injury, Elias took the mound twice in the Futures League. In the showdown with the Goyang Heroes at the SSG Futures Field in Ganghwa, Incheon on the 20th, he allowed one run (non-earned) in three innings. In the match against Ganghwa Sangmu on the 26th, he allowed one hit, walked one and struck out four in four innings, showing good performance. His maximum speed is 149 km/h.
Shirakawa also finished his last game before the decision. He took the mound as the starting pitcher in a showdown with the KT Wiz in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Tuesday, and recorded nine hits (one homer) and five strikeouts and five runs (three earned) in five ⅓ innings with no outs.
He got off to a shaky start. In the top of the first inning, he gave a hit to leadoff hitter Mel Rojas Jr., and allowed a homer to Kang Baek-ho. Later, he grounded out to shortstop to post his first out count of the game, but was in crisis again as Oh Jae-il and Hwang Jae-gyun gave consecutive hits. However, with runners at the first and second bases with two outs, Oh Yoon-seok was caught with a fly ball to left field to overcome the crisis.
Shirakawa also lost a point in the second inning. He allowed an infield hit to the third base to leadoff hitter Kim Sang-soo. Jung Joon-young's sacrifice bunt made it to second base with one out, and he got a hit in front of the left field by Rojas again this time. It could have been a fly ball, so second baseman Kim Sang-soo started late. After seeing this, left fielder Guillermo Herredia threw the ball to third base, but made a throwing error that went off the side and the ball went into the KT dugout, and Kim Sang-soo came home.
Still, Shirakawa struck out Kang and Jang. In the top of the third inning, he pitched a three-out inning for the first time in the game. In the fourth inning, he was on the verge of being hit by Oh Yoon-seok and Kim Sang-soo, with no outs and runners on the first and second bases, but handled Jung Joon-young with a double play. He grounded out to the first base and did not lose any point. In the fifth inning, he pitched a three-out single again.
Shirakawa, who took the mound again in the sixth inning, got a hit by leadoff hitter Bae Jung-dae. With Hwang Jae-gyun at the second base with one out, Oh Yoon-seok went out due to a catch error by third baseman Choi Jeong-ui. With runners at the first and second bases with one out, Shirakawa handed over the baton to Ko Hyo-jun. Kim Sang-soo's infield hit later loaded the bases, and pinch hitter Moon Sang-cheol made a timely two-run hit, allowing Shirakawa's successors to score all points.
In the end, the SSG bullpen collapsed and knelt to KT 8-16.
먹튀검증 The game is over. After the game, the SSG held a meeting with Shirakawa and Elias to decide which of them will be with. Regardless of who leaves the team, it is certain that the other team is salivating. This is because they are proven players in the KBO league.
Ahead of the match against KT on the 26th, SSG coach Lee Soo-yong said, "I think we need to make more efforts to catch Sirakawa. I think if we don't catch Elias, other teams will try to recruit 80 to 90 percent of the players," adding, "No matter what we choose, we will be on the chopping block. So I think we need to think about it."