"I don't see any signs of getting any better." Director Kim Tae-hyung sighed... Lotte's "Left-Win Lion" will shake again, and it will really end up with "Four-Year Accompanied."
"I don't see any signs of getting any better." Director Kim Tae-hyung sighed... Lotte's "Left-Win Lion" will shake again, and it will really end up with "Four-Year Accompanied."
Blog Article
Charlie Barnes, 30, who has been a pillar of the Lotte Giants' starting lineup for three years, has become a man of crisis this year. While he failed to win the trust of the bench, he displayed regret in front of a packed audience.안전놀이터
Barnes started Lotte in the home game of the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League regular season against the NC Dinos at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 4th.
Before the game, Barnes had pitched in seven games this year, posting three wins, four losses and an earned run average of 4.91. During 40 ⅓ innings, he had 40 hits, struck out 35 and walked 14. His hit rate was 0.252, and his on-base allowed per inning (WHIP) was 1.34.
Overall, the performance was different from previous games. Since the opening game (against Jamsil LG on March 22), he had eight hits, three strikeouts and seven runs in three innings, and has continued to show ups and downs since then. He displayed good pitching by allowing two runs with 11 strikeouts in seven innings against Sajik Kiwoom on March 16, and was shaken by six runs (four earned runs) in five innings against Sajik Hanwha on March 23.
Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung met with reporters the day after the game against Hanwha and said, "Barnes is remarkably in bad pitching. I'll watch the next game one more time, but I don't see any signs of getting better." "My ball speed has dropped a lot. After three strikes, I can barely reach 140 kilometers per hour," Kim said. "To catch the count (strike), I have to swing and miss from slider or change-up, but the ball is flat and not coming out. Or, I have to win through fastball, but I can't do that, so I try to throw only corners as well."
Afterwards, Barnes seemed to be rebounding against Kiwoom in Gocheok on April 29, when he pitched seven innings of two hits, six strikeouts and one run. However, Kim said ahead of the game on the 4th, "I pitched well in the last game, but my ball speed didn't come out that way." "I think that's it. I can throw up to 145-146 kilometers per hour, but I don't think I can throw an inning continuously. I think it's 142-144 kilometers on average." "As the ball speed drops, my rotational power is falling," he said.
Still, Barnes managed well in the early days of the game. Through the second inning, he had seven batters and pitched well, except for Son's walk in the first inning. He seemed to produce good results by showing a cool pitch.
However, Barnes started to falter from the third inning. After walking Kim Han-byeol with one out, the change-up thrown to Kwon Hee-dong was hit, resulting in a two-run homer over the left fence. Then, the next batter Kim Joo-won also hit Barnes' 143-km/h two-seam fastball, making a back-to-back home run over the fence.
In the next inning, Barnes also got a leadoff batter Shin Jae-hwan's double that penetrated next to the third baseman, and allowed him to steal the third base too easily as he missed the runner's movement. After one out, he gave up another point by giving up a hit that fell next to the center field while the slider thrown to Kim Han-byeol made sense.
However, Lotte's batters scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning with Lee Ho-joon's sacrifice fly and Victor Reyes' three-run double. At the same time, he provided Barnes with a clear scoring support, but failed to make use of it. Barnes allowed a second base steal after being hit by Chun Jae-hwan in the sixth inning, and then went down the mound with one out and three on the third base. Barnes' earned run increased as follow-up pitcher Koo Seung-min allowed a point.
On the day, Barnes allowed seven hits, three strikeouts and five runs in five ⅓ innings. The maximum speed of his fastballs is 145 kilometers and 142 kilometers per hour, but his speed is still not high. Notably, all back-to-back home runs were targeted by opposing hitters even though they entered the strike zone.
Barnes is a left-hander who joined Lotte in the 2022 season and is already on the path of a long-term foreign player entering the fourth year of his contract. After playing more than 150 innings for three seasons and winning more than nine games, he became Lotte's first starter, and successfully renewed his contract until this year. However, he has been sluggish in eight games this year with three wins, four losses and an earned run average of 5.32.
Barnes was shaken by 4.29 ERA through April last year, but he rebounded by allowing 10 strikeouts and three runs in eight innings at the match against KT on April 19, his fifth appearance. However, his performance this year is still quite quiet. Now, he will need time to reorganize his performance, including giving him a break after canceling his entry.