If you were to name a foreign player who is good at baseball in the KBO League, you couldn’t leave out Eric.
Eric Thames (former NC Dinos), Eric Hacker (former NC, Kiwoom Heroes), and Eric Yokishi (Kiwoom), who announced their retirement on the 16th, were named Eric.
Hacker was a long-serving pitcher. Hacker, who stepped on Korean soil as one of the first three foreign pitchers in NC in 2013, gradually adapted to the league and became an ace. In the first year, he recorded 4 wins and 11 losses due to a terrible lack of luck, but Hacker, who was recognized for his excellent pitch and succeeded in renewing the contract, recorded 8 wins and 8 losses in 2014, but led the growth of NC as an inning eater responsible for 170 innings for two consecutive years. .
In 2015, he recorded 19 wins and 9 losses, winning the most wins and winning percentage twice, and even winning the Golden Glove. He won 13 wins in 2016 and 12 wins in 2017, but the number of innings gradually decreased, and he eventually parted ways with NC. However, Hacker came to Nexen Heroes as a substitute in 2018 and broke up with Korea by recording 5 wins and 3 losses in 14 matches. He went 61-37 with a 3.66 earned run average over six seasons.
In 2016, Thames, who posted a batting average of 3.21 with 40 home runs and 121 RBIs, declared his move to the major leagues after the season and joined the Milwaukee Brewers. And in 2017, he hit 31 homers and made the KBO league look back in the major leagues. As many young foreign players whose position was unstable due to the successful case of Thames showed a movement to return to the major leagues through the온라인바카라 KBO League, the KBO League also saw the ‘Tames Effect’.
Yokishi of Kiwoom became the longest-serving foreign player in his 5th year this year. Since joining Kiwoom in 2019, he has been throwing more than 10 wins every year. Except for 2020 (159⅔ innings), he served as the team’s ace by digesting over 180 innings in all three seasons. He even ranked first in earned run average in 2020 and first in wins in 2021. He went 51-33 with a 2.71 earned run average over four years.
Among the players who came to Korea with the name Eric in the 2010s, it seems that the only one who failed was Hanwha’s Eric Seokamp. Seocamp came in on behalf of Esmil Rodgers in 2016, but accepted a disappointing record with 2 wins, 5 losses, 1 save and an average ERA of 6.31 in 17 games.
And in the 2023 season, another mysterious Eric came. It is NC’s new foreign pitcher, Eric Peddie. With the appearance of a pitcher who played in the major leagues until last season, NC fans have high expectations. Besides, isn’t Eric a pleasant name for NC?
However, the English spelling is different from Eric before. Hacker, Thames, and Yorkish are all Eric, but Pedy is Erick, with a k added at the end. The pronunciation is similar and the Korean transcription is the same, but the names are distinctly different.
I wonder if Pedy, who is quickly learning Korean and quickly blending into the team, will continue the success story of ‘Eric’.
Thames is a foreign player, but he introduced the KBO League to the major leagues. Thames, who came to NC in 2014, hit the jackpot with 37 homers and 121 RBIs with a batting average of 34.3, and in 2015 he made a big hit. With a batting average of .381, he recorded 47 homers, 140 RBIs and 40 stolen bases, achieving the first 40-40 club in the KBO League. He won four gold medals in batting average, runs scored, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage, and won the regular season MVP and Golden Glove, truly making Thames’ year.