“It doesn’t get any better than this,” 1-inning ERA survivor, first-half ‘best pitcher’ Peddy says

Eric Peddie (30-NC Dinos) is baseball’s “Best Pitcher” for the first half of this season.

Peddie pitched six and one-third innings of one-run ball against the Lotte Giants at NC Park in Changwon on Wednesday to earn his 12th win of the season. He overtook Adam Plutko (LG Twins), who was tied for the league lead in wins before the game. He also tied the record for fewest pre-game wins against a club (15) since the 10-team format began in 2015.

Of the various earnings, the most eye-catching is the ERA. Pedi’s ERA dropped slightly from 1.73 to 1.71 after the Lotte game. He was the only one of the 21 pitchers to finish the first half with a sub-one ERA. That’s because he maintained his pace until his final outing of the first half, even as title contenders Raul Alcantara (Doosan Bears – 2.03) and Ahn Woo-jin (Kiwoom Heroes – 2.44) briefly faltered. Pedi’s most runs allowed in a game is three (3). His 10 quality starts (six or more innings and three earned runs or less) are the most on the team.

“I couldn’t be happier with the first half of the year,” Pedi said, “Personally, I’m happy that I made plays that helped the team and that the team is in a playoff position.” In Peddie’s 15 starts, NC has won 12 games (3 losses). That’s a winning percentage of 8 percent. With 30.8% of the team’s wins coming on his days on the mound, his presence is one of the driving forces behind the top-five race.

When Peddy’s move to NC was announced last winter, it was met with a lot of interest from baseball fans. Peddy is an active big leaguer who has logged 100 innings in Major League Baseball (MLB) in each of the last two seasons. With Drew Ruchinski (Oakland Athletics) choosing to return to MLB, NC needed a replacement to fill the void. After a hard-fought battle, the team won the Peddie signing, but it wasn’t without some skepticism. He’s not the first foreign player in KBO history to be released from the league after failing to live up to his name.메이저사이트

Pedi put those fears to rest. He has a two-seam fastball that tops out at 150 mph, plus a cut fastball, a changeup, and a sweeper, a type of slider. He’s a reliever, but he also has great command of his pitches. His strikeout rate is low at 2.31 per nine innings. Ahn Woo-jin said of Pedi, “He has a fastball with a lot of movement. He has a good fastball, so I don’t think there’s much more to say. I think pitchers who don’t give up many runs (low ERA) do the best.”

After a successful first half, Pedi wrote the wrong answer first: “I know that you can’t play every game in the best conditions and situations, but I think we need to minimize that,” he said. “Personally, I was disappointed with the number of wickets and runs (six). I want to improve on that in the second half to be more helpful to the team.”

Injury-riddled NC has been in a slump lately. They have won just four games (11 losses) in their last 15 since March 22. Pedi has been responsible for two of those wins, and his presence as a “streak breaker” is crucial. “It’s unfortunate that we’ve hit a rough patch, but I’m happy with the effort we’ve put in to overcome it and how we’ve come together as a team through the process,” he said, hinting at a second-half comeback.