Is super ace Pedi a mercenary or a foreign player to NC fans?

With only one game, Game 5 of the playoffs, to decide who will advance to the Korean Series, NC didn’t pull out the “20-win, 200-strikeout regular season” pitcher’s card.

“I tried to move him, but he expressed that his shoulder was heavy, so it was difficult to put him in,” NC manager Kang Myung-ho said after the game.

Of course, Pedi threw the most pitches of his career in 2023. He threw 186⅓ innings in the regular season and postseason (180⅓ innings in the regular season + 6 innings in the postseason) and 3002 pitches (2904 pitches in the regular season + 98 pitches in the postseason). 먹튀검증토토사이트 He also took a hard hit to his right forearm in his last appearance of the regular season against the Gwangju KIA on March 16. In many ways, his fatigue level may have reached its limit.

But I can’t help but be disappointed.

In a pregame interview, NC manager Kang Myung-ho said, “(Pedi) will wait in the middle,” because it could be his last. Indeed, in the fifth inning, with Shin Min-hyuk in trouble, Pedi came from the dugout to the bullpen to warm up.

NC fans’ affection and anticipation for the “Super Ace” was ripe, but it was only the bullpen and dugout.

Only those inside the NC organization know his exact physical condition and contract terms

Pedi was included in the roster for Game 5 of the PO. In the lineup released by NC coach Kang Myung-ho before the game, Pedi’s name was written at the end of the pitching group.

Yet, only the bullpen and dugout were heated in the winner-take-all Game 5 of the playoffs. You can’t help but scratch your head.

You might think Pedi has nothing left to prove in the KBO.

Until last year, his experience in the starting rotation of a major league club was enough to overwhelm the league.

In 30 regular-season games, he went 20-6 with an ERA of 40 (180 1/3 innings) and 209 strikeouts. Pedi became the first foreign player to win 20 games and strike out 200 batters in the 21st century, 37 years after Sun Dong-fen.

His regular season performance has already generated interest from Major League Baseball

MLB.com cited Merrill Kelly (SK, 2015-2018), who led the Arizona Diamondbacks to the World Series this year, as an example: “Kelly, who grew up in the KBO, became a key part of Arizona’s National League championship run. Peddie, too, is a favorite to return to the big leagues and break into the starting lineup.”

True to the word postseason, Peddie finished his first year in the KBO by appearing in only the first game of the playoffs out of nine NC Fall League games, starting with the wild-card game. Sure, his ability was never in doubt as he pitched a complete-game six-hit shutout, allowing three hits (one home run) on 98 pitches with 12 strikeouts in six innings, but it left a bad taste in his mouth.

Mercenaries are paid to serve. Mercenaries are people who are driven by a salary. To increase their salary, they increase their value and leave without blood or tears to a place that recognizes their value.

The term “mercenary” is no longer used to describe foreign athletes who play under contract in Korea. The term “mercenary” has become a thing of the past for foreign athletes playing under contract in Korea. This is the fifth game of the postseason, and the word “mercenary” is slowly disappearing from the sports world.