Despite missing the top five, he nearly became an "undefeated pitcher" — will he return to the KBO stage next year?

*This content was translated by AI.

Although the team failed to secure a top-five finish, he was the foreign ace who delivered the best performance this season. That person is none other than NC Dinos foreign pitcher Riley Thompson (30).

On the 30th of last month, in an away game against the Doosan Bears at Seoul Jamsil Stadium during the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season, NC suffered a walk-off loss with a score of 5-6 in the bottom of the ninth inning.

With this defeat, NC fell to three consecutive losses, recording a record of 62 wins, 72 losses, and 2 draws. The team sits alone in sixth place in the league standings. With the gap to Doosan, who holds sole fifth place, widening to eight games, NC's advancement to this season's postseason has been dashed.

Although the team lost, Riley, who started on that day, truly pitched a masterpiece. He recorded six innings of work, allowing seven hits (one home run), two walks, and striking out five batters while giving up two runs (two earned). This marked a quality start (a starting pitcher throwing at least six innings with three or fewer earned runs).

With this outing, Riley achieved his 12th consecutive quality start of the season.

It is no small feat. The record for the most consecutive quality starts by a foreign pitcher in NC history is held by Haker. During the 2015 season, he threw 14 consecutive quality starts, from the game against the Samsung Lions in Masan on June 7 to the game against the Hanwha Eagles in Masan on August 27 of that year.

Following him, Ruchinski holds the record for 12 consecutive quality starts. Ruchinski threw 12 consecutive quality starts from the game against the Gwangju KIA Tigers on May 17, 2020, to the game against the Suwon KT Wiz on July 24 of that year.

And with this outing, Riley has tied Ruchinski's record. If Riley records another quality start in his next appearance, he will surpass Ruchinski's mark.

Riley is a foreign signing acquired by NC ahead of the 2025 season. This marks his second year on the Korean stage.

Riley began his professional career after being drafted in the 11th round by the Chicago Cubs in 2018. Before coming to Korea, he appeared in 108 games (starting 82) over five seasons in the minor leagues, posting a record of 19 wins and 25 losses with an ERA of 4.68.

At the time of Riley's signing, NC General Manager Im Sun-nam stated, "He is a former Chicago Cubs prospect who possesses strong competitiveness on the pitcher's mound and excellent strikeout ability." He added, "Based on his powerful fastball and curveball, he is a power pitcher capable of overwhelming batters. His strikeout ability is also outstanding, having recorded 353 strikeouts in 365 innings in the minor leagues."

And the NC front office's eye did not miss. In his debut season on the Korean stage in 2025, Riley appeared in 30 games, recording 17 wins and 7 losses, 216 strikeouts, and an ERA of 3.45. He tied for first place in the wins category with Cody Ponce (then Hanwha Eagles, now Toronto Blue Jays). Consequently, he re-signed with NC in December of that year for a total amount of $1.25 million (approximately 1.7 billion won).

This season has been even better. He has appeared in 22 games, recording 8 wins and 1 loss with an ERA of 2.69. In a total of 133⅔ innings, he has allowed 105 hits (18 home runs), issued 35 walks, struck out 162 batters, and given up 41 runs (40 earned). His walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) stands at 1.05, and his batting average against is .214. He has achieved a total of 16 quality starts. In particular, had he not lost in the home game against Samsung on August 23 (eight innings, three hits allowed, one walk, 12 strikeouts, two runs given up), he would have remained an undefeated pitcher to this day.

If things continue like this, NC is expected to prioritize re-signing Riley and enter negotiations with that as their top priority. Will Riley be able to roam the Korean stage again next season and deliver a strong performance?

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*This content was translated by AI.