New signings compared to Cody Ponce, but team wary after Vince Velasquez's failure

[OSEN=Cho Hyeong-rae Reporter] "You have to see it to know."

The Lotte Giants of the professional baseball league have finalized their foreign player roster for the 2026 season. They re-signed Victor Reyes, who won the consecutive two-year title for the most hits, for $1.4 million, continuing their three-year partnership. Additionally, they completely overhauled their foreign pitcher lineup.

Lotte, which remained quiet in the FA market this year, focused heavily on forming a foreign one-two punch. They formed the lineup entirely with new faces. They signed Elvin Rodriguez, 27 years old, who has experience in Japanese professional baseball, and Jeremy Beasley, 30 years old. Both players were given the new foreign player maximum salary of $1 million.

They are evaluated as foreign players who can stand shoulder to shoulder with Cody Ponce, who dominated the league with the Hanwha Eagles this year. Ponce recorded 39 games (36 starts), 202 innings, 10 wins, 16 losses, an ERA of 4.54, 165 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.30 over three years with the Nippon Ham Fighters and Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japanese professional baseball. He gradually lost his competitiveness. However, this year with Hanwha, he dominated the league with a record of 29 games, 180⅔ innings, 17 wins, 1 loss, an ERA of 1.89, and 252 strikeouts. He swept the top awards, including the quadruple crown, the Choi Dong-won Award, MVP, and Golden Glove.

Rodriguez played in Japanese professional baseball for two years, while Beasley played for three years. Spending multiple seasons in Japanese professional baseball, which is both free in retaining foreign players and yet strict, signifies that they demonstrated their own competitiveness.

Rodriguez recorded 39 games, 2 wins, 6 losses, and an ERA of 2.77 (78 innings, 24 earned runs) over two seasons with the Yakult Swallows in Japanese professional baseball. This year, he moved to the U.S. and played for Milwaukee, Arizona, and Baltimore, pitching in 7 Major League games. In Triple-A, he appeared in 29 games (2 starts), pitching 45⅓ innings with 4 wins and an ERA of 5.36.

Although his recent career has been more as a relief pitcher, he still started 146 out of 247 games in the Major and Minor Leagues. Lotte's general manager Park Jun-hyeok said, "Rodriguez, who has a deceptive pitching form and excellent fastball, is a type who can utilize the strike zone broadly," and added, "He is a player with a low walk rate based on his excellent curveball control." This year in the Major Leagues, he recorded an average velocity of 94.4 miles per hour (152 km/h) and a top velocity of 96.9 miles per hour (156 km/h).

Beasley played an impressive three seasons with the Hanshin Tigers. As a foreign player in the 'kingdom of pitchers,' he demonstrated his competitiveness. In his first-team career, he recorded 40 games (25 starts), 147 innings, 10 wins, 8 losses, an ERA of 2.82, and a WHIP of 1.17, achieving a top-tier performance.

This year, he recorded 8 first-team games (6 starts), 29⅓ innings, 1 win, 3 losses, and an ERA of 4.60. In the Hanshin second team, he appeared in 15 games, pitching 77⅓ innings with 5 wins, 4 losses, and an ERA of 2.21. In the Major Leagues, he recorded 18 games, 24⅔ innings, 1 loss, and an ERA of 5.84.

General manager Park Jun-hyeok explained about Beasley, "He is a player whose game management ability was proven by appearing in 20 games as a starting pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers in the 2025 season of Japanese professional baseball, and his pitch value, including an excellent slider with lateral movement and a splitter, is high," adding, "He is a type who can suppress extra-base hits due to his high groundball induction rate."

Reactions in Japan and the U.S. are quite heated. The Japanese media outlet 'Full Count' reported on Rodriguez's return to Korea, stating, "Rodriguez has returned to the Asian stage after a long period of hardship. He aims to make a comeback in a new country." They explained, "Rodriguez joined the Yakult Swallows in July 2023. Although he was demoted to the second team early in the 2024 season, his second year, he completely transformed after switching to a relief role in July. He left an overwhelming record of 31 games, an ERA of 1.54, 8 holds, and 1 save. In November of the same year, he became a free agent and signed a Major League contract with the Milwaukee Brewers in January this year."

They added, "Since he is still young, there is ample possibility for him to achieve results on the Asian stage again and challenge the Major Leagues once more. Attention is focused on what kind of pitching Rodriguez will show with Lotte," mentioning the possibility of reverse exporting to the Major Leagues.

Regarding Beasley, 'Full Count' also stated, "Ponce, who most recently played for Nippon Ham and Rakuten, made a leap by winning the pitcher's quadruple crown in the KBO League. He signed a three-year, $30 million contract with Toronto. Can Beasley, who is 30 years old, create a big ripple in the KBO as well?" comparing him to Ponce.

It's to the extent that one might wonder if Lotte's foreign player lineup has ever caused such a reaction before. That's how much effort Lotte put into this foreign player composition.

It is true that under the previous club management, foreign player scouting was conducted independently by individuals, weakening the club's own foreign player network. They are now rebuilding it. Bringing in Conner Brooks, who was in charge of foreign player scouting at KIA, and having two local scouts is part of the foreign player department's reorganization.

Internally, Lotte has high expectations. However, they do not hastily conclude. They approach cautiously without being certain of success. This is because of the failure of Vince Velasquez, whom Lotte ambitiously brought in last summer. Velasquez was definitely a player of high expectations, given his Major League career and performance at the time. He was naturally included in other teams' foreign player lists. However, he failed miserably.

Lotte Giants Form Foreign One-Two Punch with Caution