Can Hanwha Eagles' Ricardo Sanchez, who is entering his second season in Korea, exceed expectations? Half your success may depend on preparing for winter.

On the 26th of last month, the Hanwha team announced, "We have signed a new contract with foreign left-handed pitcher Ricardo Sanchez. The terms of the contract include a contract deposit of $100,000, an annual salary of $500,000, and incentives of $150,000, up to a maximum of $750,000." As a result, Sanchez will play for the Hanwha Eagles for two consecutive seasons following the 2023 season in which he joined as a substitute.

After renewing his contract, Sanchez said, "I am happy to be able to continue my relationship with the Hanwha Eagles. I am already excited to meet the Eagles fans in Daejeon again." “I will show you a better side of myself,” he said.

Hanwha will enter the 2024 season without any change in foreign pitchers by renewing the contract with Felix Peña. Peña, who joined as a replacement player in the middle of the 2022 season, renewed his contract ahead of the 2023 season for a total of $850,000, including a contract deposit of $100,000, an annual salary of $550,000, and incentives of $200,000, and after this season, a contract deposit of $200,000 and an annual salary of $650,000. , succeeded in renewing the contract for up to $1.05 million, including $200,000 in incentives.

To be honest, it wasn't the best choice. The club explains that it was difficult to bring in powerful players in a system that required various procedures, including market conditions and a $1 million cap. Hanwha, which renewed Peña's contract first, continued to look for a new face, but decided that other players were not attractive enough to replace Sanchez and that the risk was high, so they decided to trust Sanchez one more time.

Sanchez quickly joined the team as a replacement after Burch Smith, who had been highly anticipated, was released due to injury after complaining of shoulder discomfort after pitching 2⅔ innings. In his first 9 games immediately after joining, he played an active role with 5 wins without a loss and an ERA of 1.48, and was called the 'victory fairy' and led the team's upward trend.

However, in the 14 games in the second half, he did not show as much as the first half, with 2 wins and 7 losses and an average ERA of 4.60 in 74⅓ innings. Manager Choi Won-ho diagnosed in July, when Sanchez's performance plummeted, "It seems like he has a habit. It seems like hitters catch his habits when throwing fast balls and breaking balls and respond accordingly."

Although he later said he had corrected his habits, he spent the second half of the season with worse results than his first impression, and finished the season with a total of 24 games and 126 innings, with 7 wins, 8 losses, and an ERA of 3.79. However, while striking out 99 batters, he allowed only 28 walks, and his strikeout/walk ratio ranked 8th in the league (3.54) among pitchers who pitched more than 100 innings, showing off his stable control.

Sanchez's strengths include the fact that he has relatively little time to adapt since he only experienced one season, and his cheerful and cheerful personality that allows him to joke around with other players. Of course, the most important part for him is to be good at baseball. So this year, the Hanwha coaching staff gave several missions to Sanchez, who has been with the Hanwha team since spring camp.

Manager Choi Won-ho said, "When I came to spring camp, I asked you to prepare for something. I asked you to lose weight and do defensive training. I also asked you to hone your breaking ball. There are things that need to be improved upon by talking to the pitching coach at camp as well. Anyway, “He is a left-handed pitcher who throws at an average speed of close to 150 km/h, and he has control over the pitch, so I hope he will get better.”

Coach Choi said, "I'm just trying to do it like domestic players. In the end, I'm trying to do it well, right? If you do well, it's good for you and for us. To do that, you have to do those things to a certain extent," he said. "I renewed my contract because I thought that would be possible." “I thought it might be better than having an unfamiliar player come and be sick or stubborn,” he added.

Sanchez has already shown off a slightly slimmer appearance in a photo of him renewing his contract with Hanwha. Will Sanchez be able to show an improved performance as the team expects this season? For Hanwha, which wants to get out of the bottom half of the league, Sanchez's ball is quite an important point.

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