It was a perfect start. He booked a strikeout machine this season as well.

Charlie Barnes of the Lotte Giants of the professional baseball team started the KBO League exhibition game against the KIA Tigers at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 9th and pitched 74 pitches in four innings, allowing three hits, no four outs, no seven strikeouts, and coming down the mound. 온라인카지노

Marking his fourth year in the KBO League this year, Barnes has renewed his contract with Lotte for a total of 1.5 million U.S. dollars (down payment of 400,000 dollars, annual salary of 950,000 dollars, incentive of 150,000 dollars) this year. Last year, Barnes had been away for nearly two months due to an adductor injury in late May, but posted 9 wins, 6 losses and an ERA of 3.35 in 25 games. Despite the injury, he pitched 150 ⅔ innings in total. Above all, his strikeout ability has improved dramatically last year. He garnered 171 strikeouts per nine innings, or 10.21 strikeouts. Kyle Hart (San Diego Padres), who returned to the Major League last year, was the only player who recorded strikeouts per nine innings higher than Barnes.

In his first official game this year, he showed off the prowess of a strikeout machine once again. On the day, Barnes posted a maximum speed of 146 km in four-seam fastballs. He played 33 fastballs, 28 sliders, eight changeups, and five two-seam games.

It was not easy to compete with batters. In many cases, the team reached the full count. It induced leadoff hitter Park Chan-ho to ground out to the second base, and Kim Sun-bin to ground out to the second base again after a full count match. Against Kim Do-young, he garnered a rookie strikeout with a slider at his body after a close game of eight pitches.

In the second inning, he gave up a critical hit after a full count match on seven pitches with leadoff hitter Na Sung-bum. However, Barnes went on a strikeout parade afterwards. He threw a fastball 144 kilometers outside off Choi Hyung-woo to strike out, and threw a slider against Lee Woo-sung to eliminate the inning.

Even Kim Tae-gun, the first batter, used sliders to strike out swinging, and Choi Won-joon also had a full count match, but the result was a strikeout. He had six strikeouts in a row. He gave up a critical hit to Park Chan-ho after two outs, but grounded out Kim Sun-bin to second to end the third inning. 

Kim Do-young, the first batter, hit a double to right next to the third baseman in the fourth inning. It was Sohn Ho-young, the third baseman, who made a mistake. However, he grounded out Na to second, threw a fly ball to first base, and struck out three pitches against Choi with three sliders to overcome the crisis and ended the day's mission.

After the game, Barnes said, "Overall, it was good today. The ball count went up in the first few innings, but after that, I set it back in the direction I wanted, and after that, the game went the way I wanted," adding, "I felt so good to throw the game in front of many fans after a long time."

He expects to record a lot of strikeouts this year as well. "If we strike out, a runner cannot go out. That's the direction that pitchers want the most. I think I went well in that direction," he said. "I think I really liked throwing high courses today. Since many players have seen my slider now, I know that they are aiming for it as well. That's why I targeted high courses a lot, thinking that I should make a change this year." 

Has ABS, which was first implemented last year, affected Barnes' strikeout capability? "It is not just the influence of ABS. I think it will help me catch a strike if I do what I can because I threw it on the best stage," he said.

Now, the pitcher who maintained his position as the strongest player in the league last year has left. Will he be greedy to win the strikeout title? "It would be a great honor to win the strikeout title, but now I want to focus more on how well I can perform in the next exhibition game rather than thinking about it," he said, vowing to focus on the immediate moment rather than the distant future.