Photo Source Wikipedia, USA Today Sports Press Release
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Doosan Bears have hired Walker Lockett as a new foreign starting pitcher.
Doosan Bears signed a contract for a total of $1 million with a down payment of $250,000, an annual salary of $550,000, and a transfer fee of $200,000.
Walker Rocket was recently included in the MLB 40-man roster for the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Walker Rocket is 196 cm tall and weighs 102 kg. (Former) Like Doosan Bears’ Nippert, he is a pitcher who throws a strong ball using strong physical conditions.
Walker Rocket is from Jacksonville, Florida, and was born in 1994 and knocked on the door of the KBO at the relatively young age of 28 in Korea.
After graduating from Providence High School in Jacksonville, he was nominated in the 2012 MLB Rookie Draft by the San Diego Padres in the fourth round. What the 4th round nomination means is that it received good reviews in the MLB prospects at the time. And He made his MLB debut in 2018 under the San Diego Padres.
Since then, the team has continued to move through the Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, and Toronto Blue Jays through waiver disclosures and trades.
Walker Rocket did not show impressive results with an ERA of 2-4, 54.0 innings and 7.67 in MLB, but in the minor leagues, he performed well with an ERA of 28-3, 547 innings and 4.11 in 9 seasons. And since he played 9 seasons in the minor leagues from a young age, it is evaluated that he has quite a lot of starting experience.
The Walker Rocket is evaluated as powerful because it is a two-seam fastball with an average of 150km from the top and down through its unique height. Through this, the club is looking forward to showing the highest level of restraint and pitch in the KBO league.
There are two-seam fastball, cutter, curve, change-up, and sinker. Walker Rocket is said to have seen the effect of reducing home runs after learning a new cutter recently, with most of the four pitches exceeding 20%. This has the advantage of using a variety of pitches evenly.
When looking at the walk ratio per 9 innings, it was 3.33 in the major league and 2.0 in the minors.
This is evaluated as having a lot of balls heading into the center of the strike zone, preferring to run aggressive games rather than having good control.
So in the minors, the home run rate per 9 innings was 0.8, but in the majors it increased significantly to 2.0. However, it can be seen as a great comfort point that the number of home runs decreased to 1.1 after installing the cutter.
In addition, there is an expectation that if a game is played in a domestic stadium, the disadvantage of a large number of home runs can be offset from the standpoint of using the large Jamsil Stadium with few home runs as a home.
According to a sports trend and an interview with a Doosan official, “Rocket is a pitcher who plays an aggressive game with an excellent pitch. The game management is excellent,” he said. “Because I mainly throw sinkers, there is a lot of ground ball guidance. I expect to have a good harmony with the infielders with solid defensive power.”
After showing good performance in the 2020 KBO postseason, he returned to the US and signed a contract with the Seattle Mariners, similar to Chris Flexen. Like Chris Plexen, who moved to the KBO at a young age, raised his value, and returned to MLB, he hopes to go through the process of returning to the MLB through good performance in the KBO at a young age.
With this signing, Doosan Bears is hoping to fill the gap between Thiago Alcantara and Chris Flexsen, who showed good performance last year, by completing a left-handed one-to-punch with right-hander Walker Rocket and Cuban left-hander Ariel Miranda. By signing a contract with Jose Miguel Fernandez, who will be in his third year in the 2021 season, he finished the formation of foreign players in the 2021 season.
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