The Doosan Bears re-signed left-hander Brandon Waddell, 29, and gave him ace-like treatment. Brandon signed a contract with Doosan for a total of $1.13 million (about 1.4 billion won) on Monday, including a down payment of 250,000 dollars, an annual salary of 750,000 dollars, and 130,000 dollars in incentives. Brandon was paid 280,000 dollars (about 300 million won) when he joined Dylan Foyle as a substitute who was released due to injury during this season, and his salary was nearly quadrupled due to his successful season.
It was a result of Brandon’s thorough preparation to make a comeback in Korea. Brandon failed to renew his contract when he first joined Doosan as a substitute for Ariel Miranda, who was released due to injury in 2022. He had five wins and three losses, 65 innings and a 3.60 ERA in 11 games. He displayed excellent ball control and stability on the mound, but failed to display innings pitched well enough to entrust a starter to a full-time position. Brandon was a pitcher who spent most of his career as a bullpen pitcher in the U.S. before coming to Korea. Perhaps it was only natural.
After much consideration, Doosan gave up renewing contract with Brandon. Brandon turned to the Taiwan Professional Baseball (CPBL), leaving his disappointment behind. The CPBL is considered to be one level below Korea’s, but Brandon judged that Taiwan would be the best place to play as a full-time starting pitcher. After signing contract with the Rakuten Monkeys, he started 11 games and recorded 67 innings, 5 wins, 4 losses and 2.69 ERA. Doosan had Brandon as its No. 1 substitute from the end of the spring camp when Dylan’s goal-striking injury occurred, and Brandon, who received Doosan’s idea, sweated even more in Taiwan not to miss the opportunity to make a comeback in Korea.
While playing in Taiwan, Brandon focused on preparing himself to avoid failure again when he returned to Korea. Recalling the first time his contract with Doosan failed, Brandon said, “It was not a matter that I could solve or decide. However, I wanted to come to Korea. How can I do better in Korean baseball than express disappointment? I tried to focus more on the mound. It was an off-season where I studied how to succeed this year.” 토토사이트 추천
“Last year, I had to pitch as an intermediate pitcher for about half a season before coming to Korea to quickly switch to a starting pitcher. This year, I am confident because I will build up my body step by step from the off-season to start and then just enter Korea to start. As you can see from my slider last year, it was a slider that bends fast and short. This year, I think it will be more advantageous when facing left-handed batters as I have learned how to play sliders with bigger angles,” he added.
His confidence in making a comeback to the Korean pro baseball league was reflected in his report card. Brandon was active in 18 games this year with 11 wins and three losses, 104 ⅔ innings, 100 strikeouts and a 2.49 ERA. He showed off his good performance as an “inning pitcher” by recording 13 quality starts, and showed tremendous pace to achieve double-digit wins even after reporting his first win of this season with one run in seven innings at the match against the Samsung Lions on July 6, the end of the first half. Doosan did not hesitate to offer a contract to Brandon, who was the de facto major contributor to advancing to the fifth round. While Raul Alcantara (re-signing 1.5 million U.S. dollars) will serve as the ace pitcher again next year, second starting pitcher Brandon was treated as a foreign pitcher.
A Doosan official said, “Brandon has won more than 10 games since his first win in July. He is the first player in the KBO. This year, William Cuevas (Kt Wiz) won 12 games as a substitute, and it was his first win in June. As Brandon was almost the head of the pitching staff, he made good agreements for a win-win amount based on good feelings. I think he paid a reasonable amount.” Brandon will have his third season in the KBO league next year. However, this is the first time he will be with Doosan from the beginning of the season. Will Brandon, who wrote the legend of successful substitute player, be able to successfully spend his first full-time season next year.
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