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After a brief taste of fall festivities, the Doosan Bears have already begun planning for next season.
This season, Doosan, which made a fresh start with the appointment of head coach Lee Seung-yeop, finished the season in fifth place with a record of 74 wins, 2 ties, and 68 losses. After finishing last year in ninth place, the lowest ranking in the franchise’s history, 먹튀검증토토사이트 Doosan made it to fall baseball for the first time in two years.
With the short fall festivities coming to an end with a loss to the NC Dinos in Game 1 of the wild-card decider, Doosan has begun preparations for the 2024 season.
One of the big challenges is organizing the outfield. This season, Doosan had a clear-cut outside ace in Raul Alcantara, who went 13-9 with a 2.67 ERA, but their other outside pitchers were up and down.
Dylan Pyle, who started the season with the team, was hit in the head by a pitch in spring training and missed his opening day start. After about a month of waiting, he took the mound, but was released after two games with an elbow injury.
While Dillon’s departure was a blowout, the replacement foreign player was a big hit. Brandon Waddell, who came in last year as an alternate and had a solid performance with a 5-3 record and 3.60 ERA in 11 games, was called up in late June and made 18 appearances. With an 11-3 record and 2.49 ERA, he and Alcantara have been a solid one-two punch.
Barring a major upheaval, we could see them in 2024. “We lost Dylan to a head injury to open the season,” Lee said. It must have been very hard for Alcantara. He stayed in the lineup and pitched great, except for when he went down with a back injury. Brandon came in in July and gave us 11 wins, so there’s no reason not to go with him (next season).” “As long as they’re healthy and there’s no contract differences, I don’t see a problem with them going together,” Lee said, adding that he hopes they’ll be together in 2024.
While the two foreign pitchers have made their intentions clear, Rojas is taking a longer and more cautious approach.
This season, Rojas’ first and second halves were markedly different. In the first half, he hit 10 home runs in 65 games, but his batting average was just 2-for-2. He was on the verge of being released. Lee decided to “save Rojas” by hiring Lee Young-soo as his assistant coach, and Rojas rebounded in the second half of the season, batting .285 with nine home runs in 57 games.
In the wild-card deciding game, he turned into a “monstrous outsider. He went 2-for-2 with a home run off NC starter Tanner Thurley.
But with first baseman Jang Seok-hwan Yang, who led the team in home runs (21), set to become a free agent, Doosan will have to think about the outfield position. While Doosan has a lot of resources to look forward to in the outfield, the infield has been slow to develop.
“I’m worried about Rojas. He showed good indicators in the hitting department. We have to be careful with him because he has to fit in with the team colors. In the outfield, we need to work on our defense and offense. We also have to think about all the situations where (Yang) Seok-hwan stays or goes,” he said, adding, “It’s not something we can think about in a hurry.”