"Where does Samsung find such pitchers..." Shaken in 3 weeks → Team also faces crisis with 2 wins, 7 losses in title chase

*This content was translated by AI.

"How does Samsung manage to bring in such good pitchers so well."

In late July, a manager of a KBO League team said this. At the time, Samsung Lions had signed new foreign pitcher Chris Fedek (30) ahead of the second half opener and quickly acquired Austin Boss (34) as an injury replacement for Haruto. Fedek has recorded 32 wins in 132 career Major League games (119 starts), while Boss is considered a "big-name" player who played in the U.S. Major Leagues (210 games, 17 wins) and Nippon Professional Baseball (Chiba Lotte in 2025), putting other teams on edge.

However, after about three weeks, neither pitcher has delivered the expected performance. The team, which was competing for first place, also fell into a slump.

Fedek started strongly. In his debut game on July 18 against Lotte Giants, he earned a win with six innings allowing one hit and no runs. He followed up with a victory on July 24 against Doosan Bears, pitching six innings and allowing two runs. Praise even came out saying, "More stable than (last year's KBO MVP) Ponce (32, formerly of Hanwha Eagles)."

But the once-promising Fedek was repeatedly held back by KIA Tigers. He allowed six runs in five innings on July 30 and then gave up three runs over seven innings on the 11th, suffering consecutive losses.

Boss has yet to record a win. After allowing two runs in five innings in his KBO debut against Doosan on July 26, he allowed seven runs in three innings against Lotte on August 2 and four runs in four innings against KIA on the 12th before being pulled early, falling into a three-game losing streak.

Fedek is 2-2 with an ERA of 4.13 over four games, while Boss is winless in three games with an ERA of 9.00. Both have faced only three teams so far: KIA, Doosan, and Lotte.

Kim In-sik (79), the "national manager" who was a former pitcher and now manages Jeon (CEO) team, did not give high marks to the two players. Regarding Fedek, he said, "Fedek is not particularly overpowering. He relies on control and uses many changeups, but they don't drop sharply or break cleanly; instead, they move faintly, creating pitches that form in the middle at a high height." On Boss, he added, "Boss throws many sweepers. However, sweepers that drift too far outside fail to deceive batters, making it difficult for him as a pitcher."

Samsung's new Asia quota pitcher, Satoshi Miyamori (28), also struggled in his first appearance of the second half on the 12th against KIA. Coming into the game trailing 2-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning, he allowed a two-run home run to Ju-seok Ha, giving up one hit and two runs over one inning.

With the expected foreign pitchers faltering, Samsung has managed only eight wins and nine losses (winning percentage 0.471) since the second half began, handing the first-place spot to KT Wiz. In their recent nine games, they have gone 2-7 (winning percentage 0.222). After the "heatwave break," Fedek and Boss, who were positioned as the top two starters, suffered consecutive losses, leading the team into a four-game losing streak.

Samsung finished the first half in first place and is being evaluated both inside and outside the organization as finally having the opportunity to reclaim the title for the first time since 2014, 12 years ago. However, after enduring the intense heat, they have shown an unexpected decline, facing a crisis in their championship pursuit.

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*This content was translated by AI.