Perfectly filled the void of Jacob deGrom (36, Texas Rangers).

When deGrom signed a five-year, $185 million (about 246.4 billion won) contract with Texas and decided to have Tommy John surgery in just one month, the time for Dunning (29), a Korean-born big leaguer, came. Dunning was mainly a long reliever, but instead of deGrom as a temporary starter, and has fully established himself as a starter since the middle of the season.

He had the best season of his career with 12 wins, 7 losses and an earned run average of 3.70 in 35 games in the 2023 season. In the postseason, he mostly pitched as a bullpen session, not as a starter. Anyway, he clearly had a stake in Texas’ 2023 World Series championship. Since his Major League debut in 2020 with the Chicago White Sox, he had his best season, and it seemed that his performance was going well.

DeGrom is expected to return to the starting lineup early in the second half of this season. Dunning has secured a spot in the starting lineup at the beginning of this season. However, he was not as productive as last year. He has fastballs, but he does not naturally possess ball power that overwhelms batters. However, his command is not very sophisticated at all.

He finished the first half with four wins, seven losses and an earned run average of 4.71 in 15 games. However, his slump in the second half has become serious. He only posted an earned run average of 7.11 in nine games. Although deGrom did not return, he had to give way to the starting lineup. 메이저사이트 He even had frequent injuries. Following a rotator cuff injury in May and shoulder pain in June, he left the mound due to injury in July.

In the end, Texas implemented Dunning’s Minor League option as of Tuesday (Korea time). Though an expanded entry was applied, Dunning went down to Triple-A Round Rock Express. At the game against the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday, he allowed three hits, eight strikeouts, two walks and two runs (non – earned) in six innings against the Sacramento Rivercats on Sunday.

However, he pitched the worst after coming to Triple-A at the 2024 Minor League Triple-A Sacramento match held at Round Rock Del Diamond in Texas on Sunday. He gave up eight hits, one strikeout, two walks and seven runs in two ⅓ innings. His ERA in Triple-A season is a whopping 5.28.

In the meantime, deGrom had a return match for the starting lineup of Texas. In fact, aside from deGrom, Dunning has lost competitiveness on his own. Korea has no choice but to pay keen attention to foreign players of Korean descent to prepare for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Dunning is one of the candidates that Korea can join the national team along with Tommy Edman (LA Dodgers), who participated in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

However, Dunning’s poor performance this season is not a good thing for Korea, which is preparing for the WBC in two years. Dunning politely declined to join the national team in the aftermath of hip surgery at the 2023 Noon competition. However, if the team’s poor performance continues next year, Korea will also likely look from the ground up. For one, Dunning’s move in the 2025 season is very important along with the closing of this season. Texas has failed to participate in the postseason race, and Dunning is also expected to wrap up this season in Triple-A.