"Where does Samsung find such pitchers..." Shaken after 3 weeks → Team also in 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 of the season 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 regarded as a "powerhouse" 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 results as expected. The team, which was competing for the top spot, also fell into a slump.

Fedek started strongly. In his debut game on July 18 against Lotte Giants, he pitched six innings allowing one hit and no runs to secure a win. He followed that with another victory on July 24 against Doosan Bears, pitching six innings and giving up two runs. Praise even emerged, calling him "more stable than (last year's KBO MVP) Ponce (32, formerly of Hanwha Eagles)."

However, the once-promising Fedek was repeatedly tripped up by KIA Tigers. On July 30, he allowed six runs in five innings, and on the 11th, he gave up three runs over seven innings, 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 surrendered 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. Coincidentally, both have faced only three teams: KIA, Doosan, and Lotte.

Kim In-sik (79), the "national manager" who was once a pitcher and now manages Jeon (CEO) team, did not give high marks to the two pitchers. 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, but those that drift too far outside fail to deceive batters, making it difficult for him as a pitcher."

As the two expected foreign pitchers have faltered, Samsung has managed only eight wins and nine losses (winning percentage 0.471) in the second half, ceding the top spot to KT Wiz. In their recent nine games, they are just 2-7 (winning percentage 0.222). After the "heat wave break," Fedek and Boss were deployed as the first and second starters but suffered consecutive losses, leading to a four-game losing streak.

Samsung finished the first half in first place and is being evaluated both inside and outside the team as having arrived at the right time to reclaim the title for the first time since 2014, twelve years later. 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.