"I like Riley better," "I like Toda's face the best." NC runs back to the powerful mound

*This content was translated by AI.

The NC Dinos will take a leap forward in the new season with a perfect starting lineup. The plan is to build a strong starting lineup by adding Koo Chang-mo, abundant 5th starting resources, two foreign players and the Asian quarter.

I already have a good feeling. NC is holding a spring camp in Tucson, Arizona, USA, and foreign players showed off their pitches that raise expectations.

NC completed three days of training and one-day rest for the sixth time. In particular, foreign pitchers played live pitching this time, making the coaching staff smile.

Expectations were high for ace Riley Thompson (30), who had 17 wins and 216 strikeouts last year, Curtis Taylor (31), who threw powerful balls in high RBIs, and Toda Natsuki (26) in the Asian quarter.

Riley has already sprayed a maximum of 151 km/h. He faced key hitters from the team, including Park Min-woo, Park Gun-woo, Matt Davidson, Kwon Hee-dong, Lee Woo-sung, and Chun Jae-hwan.

Pitcher coach Kim Kyung-tae said, "Lily, Taylor, and Toda are all preparing well. Riley in particular looks good. He showed a gradual improvement in his condition in the bullpen, and in this live pitching, he showed such good performance that he could play right now, he said. "All the pitches' control and location, including four-seam, slider, fork, curve, and splitter, were stable. "I think this live pitching has sufficiently proved why Riley is NC's first starter," he said.

Catcher Kim Jung-ho, who received Riley's ball directly, said, "Riley performed well last season and seems to have been preparing well for this season. Both the pitch of the fastball and the movement of the breaking ball were good enough to enter the season right away. In particular, the movement of the splitter is better than last year, he said. "Last year, the fastball pitch was so good that the splitter felt like it was working effectively, but now the splitter pitch itself feels powerful enough."

Riley said: "I've been practicing splitter intensively during the offseason, and I think I've made a lot of progress myself. It wasn't a full-strength pitch, but I didn't feel tired at all even though I threw 30 consecutive pitches, he said. "I'm currently well prepared and in very good condition. "In the future, we plan to gradually increase the number of pitches and keep our physical condition in line with the regular season," he said.

Kwon Hee-dong was amazed by Riley's amazing pace, considering the season's opening is more than a month away. "Riley has already been restrained enough to have a season. In particular, the pitch of the splitter was impressive. Riley said he was a splitter, but he felt like a different pitch from the batter's point of view. I'm looking forward to it even more this season," he said.

Taylor also faced the same batters and sprayed a fastball up to 149km/h. "Taylor's fighting spirit bent toward his body and the movement of the slider falling outside were very good, so I think the batters would have found it tricky," Kim Jung-ho explained.

Taylor was also satisfied. "I don't think it was as sharp as the original pitch, but it was a decent first pitch. It was my first live pitching, and I still have a month to go until the opening of the season, he said. "If I maintain my current condition and gradually raise it, I think I can show better performance in time for the opening."

Seo Ho-chul, who faced him directly, said, "The combination of sinker and sweeper was impressive. In particular, the pitching tunnel is good, so it will not be easy to make a hit. There will also be a lot of ground balls to induce. The sweeper doesn't float, but bends in. Overall, I was impressed as a tricky pitcher because there was a lot of movement of the ball," he said.

Toda also faced the same players and threw a maximum of 145km/h, and Kim Jung-ho said, "Toda also pitched impressively in terms of ball pitching and movement. "I've been receiving the ball at the time of the tryout test last year, but I'm showing good enough despite the fact that the ball power and speed were not as high as then," he said.

Toda said, "It was my first live pitching and it was very interesting. The ball went into the course I wanted better than I thought. This live pitching was mainly thrown by fastballs, and in the second half, he checked by mixing the breaking balls he wanted to throw. It basically took a pattern that flowed outward. We will prepare better for the rest of the year," he said.

For Kwon Hee-dong, who faced all three pitchers, Toda was the most powerful. "In terms of live pitching, I think he had the best pace among the pitchers he faced. It would have been a situation where he did not consider mixing the ball, but almost all of the balls showed control in the strike zone. The timing of pitching was also not easy to match from the batter's point of view," he said with a thumbs-up.

He won the integrated championship in 2020, but since then, he has achieved a difficult performance to be satisfied with seventh, sixth, fourth, ninth, and fifth place. I played in fall baseball twice, but it wasn't that long. Unlike 2020, when foreign players combined for 30 wins, they had 19 wins, 14 wins, and 20 wins by Eric Pedi alone, but they were disappointed with 25, 24, and 24 wins. In general, considering that there were many situations where there were clear ace, it was difficult to be completely satisfied.

Therefore, it is a pitch from foreigners that raises expectations even more. Along with the five starting candidates, including Koo Chang-mo, Shin Min-hyuk, and Jung Koo-beom, who returned healthy, it is considered an important variable that will lead the team's rebound.

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*This content was translated by AI.