Daejeon: When he is not pitching for the Hanwha Eagles, right-hander Ryan Weiss has the front-row seat from his dugout to some of the best starters in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) this season -- his own teammates.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Eagles have the best starting pitching ERA in the league through Wednesday at 3.41. Their starters also have the lowest opponents' on-base plus slugging with .623. The Eagles' rotation leads the KBO with 323 strikeouts and has given up the fewest walks with 85. Cody Ponce leads the way with a 1.94 ERA, the second-best mark in the KBO, along with a perfect 8-0 record and a league-best 105 strikeouts. Ryu Hyun-jin, the 2019 Major League Baseball leader in ERA for the Los Angeles Dodgers, is 4-2 with a 3.28 ERA in his second season back with the Eagles. And Moon Dong-ju, the 21-year-old fireballer, is 5-2 with a 3.68 ERA, along with 56 Ks in 51 1/3 innings.
Weiss, who had been pitching independent ball last year before joining the Eagles, logged a combined 137 1/3 innings in 2024. He is already at 69 1/3 innings this year prior to his start Wednesday night, with the season not even at the halfway point yet. On top of polishing up his repertoire, Weiss is trying to get his body ready for the long grind.
"I'm really trying to make sure that my body's ready to throw a lot of innings and just try to win every time I go out there," he said. "I know we're in a good place right now but I just want to keep riding that momentum and try to be as consistent as possible for the whole season."