“He was an ERA 5.41 pitcher.”

MLBcom, the website of the Major League, highlighted right-hander Pedi, who has grown into a top-class pitcher and returned to the big league after a year of challenging himself to Korea on the 6th (Korea time). U.S. media, including MLB.com , reported that Pedi agreed to a two-year, 15 million-dollar contract with the Chicago White Sox. The team’s official announcement is yet to be made as medical testing procedures remain.

Up until last winter, Peddy was not a player to be so notable in the U.S. As the 18th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Peddy had a chance to play in the big league since 2017, but failed to produce notable results. During the six seasons up to last year, he pitched in 102 games (88 starts), recording 21 wins and 33 losses, 454 ⅓ innings and 5.41 ERA.

MLB.com said, “According to MLB Pipeline, Pedi was listed in the top 100 prospects before the 2016 and 2017 seasons. However, in his six seasons in the Major League, he has never had a season lower than 4.29 ERA. Due to injury, he never exceeded 140 innings in a season. In the 2022 season, he started 27 games with Washington with a 5.81 ERA. He had 21 home runs in 127 innings with 94 strikeouts, 58 walks.” 에볼루션 바카라사이트

Pedi could no longer survive in the Major League because he had been sluggish for six seasons, as explained above. After last season, he was released as a non-tender by Washington, and was caught on NC’s radar when he was trying to do the next thing. The maximum price that the NC Dinos could give to Pedi under KBO rules was $1 million (W1.3 billion), but Pedi chose to challenge.

Scott, Peddy’s father, offered such a challenge to his son. “I left it up to him to make the choice, but I remember advising him to make the right choice, that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live abroad and play in other leagues,” Scott said as he reflected on last winter.

His strategy of catching his breath was very successful. Peddy started 30 games this season with 20 wins and 6 losses, 180 ⅓ innings, 209 strikeouts and 2.00 ERA. He became the fourth pitcher in KBO history with multiple wins, strikeouts and earned run average, and became the first foreign pitcher to receive the honor of Triple Crown. He thus recorded the best performance in the history of KBO foreign pitchers, and naturally, he was the MVP.

MLBcom introduced his performance by saying, “Peddy became the fourth player in KBO history to strike out, average earned run, and most wins in the NC Dinosaurs this year, and became the first foreign pitcher to win the Choi Dong-won Award. Choi Dong-won is the KBO’s Cy Young Award.”

Scott was proud of his son, who achieved the best performance in Korea while taking on challenges. On the day Pedi won the KBO MVP trophy, he said, “As a dad, I should be proud of Pedi. He is a hardworking player. Pedi was the proudest son of all time. He also had excellent grades in school. I am lucky to have a son like Pedi.”

“I felt like an outsider for the first time while playing baseball. It was a new environment and language barrier. But I wanted to make my team like me and put a lot of effort into it. And now I am happy to be like a brother,” Pedi said after finishing his challenge in Korea.

Regarding Pedi’s turn into a different pitcher, MLBcom said, “Pedi was a pitcher who relied on sinkers, curves, and changeups when he played for Washington. However, when he returned to Korea, he added sweeper to his repertoire, and the change immediately resulted. His strikeout rate of 29.5 percent in the KBO League is far higher than his MLB record of 17.5 percent, and his walk rate of 4.9 percent is half of his MLB record of 9.5 percent. And Pedi’s ground ball induction rate is 70 percent, which is an excellent level.”

MLB Trade Rumors, which deals with the news of the Major League’s transfer awards, announced Pedi’s imminent return to the big leagues on the 5th, showing solid performance in batter-friendly overseas leagues, laying the groundwork for his rapid return to the Major League. His performance has improved, and he seems to have reorganized the combination of pitches. Pedi told the Washington Post in August that he has polished the slider to create more horizontal movement and changed his change-up grip. Such a changed weapon has intrigued several Major League clubs this winter.

ESPN reported, “Peddy relied on sliders as much as his fastball in Korea, resulting in his best season. His slider ball speed increased by more than three miles, and after a season in Washington where he struck out just 6.7 in nine innings, he refined his slider with a new weapon.”

Pedi was a cost-effective sale for teams that needed to strengthen their starting pitchers. Two years and 15 million dollars is a cheap contract in the Major League, but there was no better card as he gained confidence after winning the MVP in Korea due to his experience in six big league seasons. While the White Sox and the New York Mets emerged as finalists for the contract, the White Sox eventually got Pedi.

NC, the original team, did its best to stay at Pedi despite the strong possibility that it will go to the Major League. Not only the club but also the ace in the history of the KBO, couldn’t miss out on the ace, who had the best season in the history of the KBO. When Pedi visited Korea at the end of last month, he took out a multi-year contract card and tried his best to keep him in check, but he was forced to lose ground in a fierce war with Major League teams. As the KBO introduced salary cap system from this year, it set a total of 4 million U.S. dollars that each team can spend on three foreign players. It is far below the 15 million dollars that the White Sox guaranteed to Pedi for two years. NC should now start the process of finding a new ace to replace Pedi.

MLB.com has paid attention to whether Peddy will be able to follow Merrill Kelly (35, Arizona Diamondbacks) in back-exporting the KBO. Kelly played as an ace for the SK Wyverns (now the SSG Landers) for four seasons from 2015 to 2018, then returned to the U.S. after signing a two-year, 5.5 million-dollar contract with Arizona ahead of the 2019 season. His performance in Korea was not as good as Peddy, and Kelly had no major league career before coming to Korea. This is why he returned to the U.S. for a much smaller amount of money.

After returning to the Major League, Kelly raised his ransom by continuing to prove his value. He was guaranteed 33 million dollars (43.2 billion won) in Arizona for six years from 2019 to 2024. Thanks to his consistent performance in the starting rotation for the first two years, he completed a contract of 14.5 million dollars for 2+2 years with the implementation of his team’s options in 2021 and 2022. He even signed a two-year extension before the 2022 season, guaranteeing an additional 18 million dollars through 2024. Arizona also included a provision for the team’s option of 7 million dollars in 2025, in which Kelly will receive 1 million dollars in buyout if the team refuses to execute the option.

The White Sox are continuing to reorganize the team with the new general manager Chris Gaetz. The White Sox traded bullpen pitcher Aaron Bummer to the Atlanta Braves prior to Peddy’s contract, receiving five players, including Michael Soroka and Jared Schuster. Schuster will occupy a spot in the starting rotation with Peddy.

The White Sox are trying to rebuild their team by trading for ace Dylan Cease without stopping there. With Cease’s future a question mark, Pedi is expected to take charge of starting rotation for the White Sox next season along with Sokora, Michael Kopech, and Schuster. With Pedi joining, the White Sox will strengthen their starting lineup for four to five players.

Peddy will likely have a good chance at the White Sox, who are not as strong as starting pitchers. Will Peddy, like Kelly, remain a good example of maintaining his skills and steadily raising his ransom after returning to the Major League.