Doosan Bears 'Fantastic Four' in decline
From left are Doosan Bears pitchers Dustin Nippert, Michael Bowden, Yu Hui-kwan and Jang Won-jun. Baseball fans call the four starters the “Fantastic Four” for their key roles behind the club’s sweeping of the regular season and the best-of-seven Korean Series last year. / Yonhap
4 Bears pitchers not as impressive as they were last year
By Kang Hyun-kyung
For Doosan Bears ace pitcher Dustin Nippert, the Wednesday game against the top-ranked club Kia Tigers was a nightmare.
The MVP of the 2016 regular season was pounded by the Tigers hitters, allowing nine-RBI hits, including slugger Choi Hyeong-woo’s upset two-run homer in the first inning. It was his worst game since he joined the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League in 2011.
Nippert was replaced by teammate Ahn Gyu-yung in the fourth inning. The Bears were routed by the Tigers 8-20.
Nippert so far has seven wins and five losses in 14 games he had pitched this season. His performance this year is not nearly as good as last year. During the 2016 season, the foreign-born starter pitched in 28 games with 22 wins and three defeats. His ERA back then was 2.95 and he was the only pitcher in the KBO League to have ERA less than 3.00. His ERA this year is 3.47.
Nippert is one of the four Bears starters who had played a key role in the club’s sweeping wins of the regular season and the best-of-seven Korean Series last year. The three others are Michael Bowden, Yu Hui-kwan and Jang Won-jun.
The media and baseball fans call the four Bears pitchers the “Fantastic Four” to recognize their contributions to the club’s rise to championship last year.
Bowden had 18 wins and 7 defeats last year. His ERA was 3.80. Yu had 15 wins and six losses and his ERA was 4.41. Jang won 15 games and lost six with a 3.32 ERA.
Pitcher domination was salient throughout the Korean Series last year. The four Bears outperformed the NC Dinos, allowing only two-RBI hits during the four games. The Bears won four straight games.
This season, however, the four Bears pitchers have not been as impressive as they were last year. Their relatively lackluster performances led some baseball fans to put forth their new nickname, “the Four Who Drove Us Crazy.”
Baseball analysts say the decline of the four Bears pitchers is a key reason behind the club’s relatively disappointing performance this season. As of Friday, the Bears were placed fourth among 10 KBO clubs. The Tigers topped the league, followed by last year’s runner-up NC Dinos. The SK Wyverns rose to third as the Bears have been struggling since last week.
The current KBO standings were not what baseball analysts had predicted earlier.
Prior to the season, the Bears were mentioned by many baseball analysts as the No. 1 team to dominate the 2017 season.
Their sweeping optimism for the Bears was based on the club’s solid roster. All four pitchers stayed in the team. The club also successfully renewed its contract with slugger Kim Jae-hwan who became a free agent after the 2016 season. There were no new faces, but the key members behind the Bears’ winning of the regular and play-off seasons stayed.
Baseball analysts speculated the Tigers and the LG Twins were two mighty teams that could challenge the Bears’ dominance in the league. The Tigers strengthened its roster by signing a four-year 10 billion won contract with slugger Choi who became a free agent after the 2016 season. The Twins are another team that spent much money to purchase competitive free agents.
But Cha Myeong-seok, baseball commentator for MBC Sports Plus, made a slightly different preview of the 2017 season. According to him, the four Bears pitchers were in their best condition last year and showed their career-high performances. So, if any of the four starters failed to show such great pitching this season, he said, the Bears could have hard time becoming a defending champion.
Injuries marred one of the Fantastic Four members. Bowden had an injury on his shoulder before the March 31 opening games and was eliminated in the opening games roster for rehabilitation. He returned to the KBO League in mid April and pitched against the SK Wyverns on April 21. He threw 2 and 1/3 innings and allowed two-RBI hits. Bowden pitched again in the game against the Nexen Heroes on April 27 and allowed 4 RBI-hits during the four innings. He was sent to the minor Futures League on April 30 as his shoulder pain occurred again.
Bowden reportedly will return to the KBO League sooner or later has he recovered from the injury. In the recent minor league game against the Lotte Giants on June 15, he pitched 25 balls, allowed two hits which include a home run and struck out three players. He threw all types of balls, including sliders, curves and forkballs.
His teammate Yu has shown consistent pitching this season with six wins and one loss in 14 games he had appeared this season. His ERA is 4.55, slightly higher than his record last year which was 4.41.
Jang appeared in 12 games this season so far and won four with five losses. His ERA is 3.27, slightly lower than his last year’s record 3.32.