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| Daniel Mengden. © AFP=News1 |
Can waiting lead to results? The KIA Tigers recruited right-hander Daniel Mengden (27), who had a lot of experience in the big leagues, and raised expectations for the start. The American press also shows interest in Mengden’s trip to Korea.
KIA announced on the 25th that “we signed a contract with Mengden for a total of $1 million, including a down payment of $300,000, an annual salary of $425,000, and an option of $275,000.”
Mengden, a native of Houston, Texas, played 5 seasons in the majors and 6 seasons in the minors as a right-handed overhand pitcher.
Mengden played for the Auckland Athletics from 2016 to this season, and played in 60 major league games, recording an ERA of 17-20, 1 save and 4.64 ERA. In the minor leagues, he posted an average of 30 wins 14 losses and 1 save, 3.14 ERA over six seasons.
Mengden, who boasts a wild pitching form, is said to be excellent at the fastball pitch in the mid-to-late range of 140 km/h. In addition, it uses a variety of tools such as cutter, change-up, and curve with stable tools.
The public opinion is that foreign pitchers have to open the lid, but Mengden is attracting attention as he was an active major league pitcher.
MLB Trade & Rumors on the 27th said, “Mengden decided to go to Korea to guarantee money and time to participate, considering the uncertain US situation due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19).”
As KIA aiming for a leap forward in the 2021 season, it is a highly anticipated recruitment. KIA ended this season with better grades than expected (6th place), but failed to advance into the postseason, and is aiming to advance to the fall baseball in 2021.
While maintaining power for this was considered the key, one-two punch Aaron Brooks and Yang Hyeon-jong were worried about the future. Brooks had to stay in the U.S. due to a family accident, and Hyunjong Yang is trying to advance overseas.
However, Yang Hyun-jong is waiting for the result, but he succeeded in catching Brooks early, and the urgent fire was turned off.
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| Yang Hyun-jong started to expand overseas. Hyunjong Yang. News1 © News1 Reporter Hwang Hee-gyu |
Yang Hyeon-jong may remain, but if he succeeds overseas, KIA will lose one of the starting positions. Instead of renewing the contract with the existing foreign pitcher Drew Gagnon, KIA has focused on recruiting other players. It is believed that the new foreign pitcher must achieve a one-two punch with Brooks to be competitive. It was also considered that Gagnon had severe ups and downs and many weaknesses.
To this end, KIA, which looked closely at the US situation, eventually recruited a right-handed pitcher that was expected to fill the mound.
Mengden’s actual ability is not yet known, but the performance itself in the big league is excellent. KIA also looked optimistic about Meng Dan’s injuries, saying, “I had an elbow bone fragment removal surgery ahead of this season, but I decided to recover my restraint next year and show my skills.”