He is just a six-week injured replacement foreign player, but he has shown the qualities of a team-first foreign player. Doosan Bears' Wes Benjamin has shown both desperation and冷철함 simultaneously while once again zeroing in on his "nemesis".
Doosan's ace, Chris Flexen, who returned after six years, suffered a right shoulder scapular muscle injury, putting the team on high alert. He left the lineup after only two games. After receiving a six-week opinion, they needed to find an injured replacement player, but they found a replacement fairly quickly. They brought in left-handed pitcher Wes Benjamin, who has extensive KBO League experience.
Benjamin joined KT Wiz in 2022 as a replacement for William Cuevas and played on the Korean stage through 2024. He recorded a career total of 74 games, 31 wins, 18 losses and a 3.74 earned run average. However, after the 2024 season he did not re-sign with KT and returned to the U.S. stage.
Last year he played in Triple-A under the San Diego Padres, and this year he did not have a team and continued personal training. Benjamin said, "Offers came from the Mexican league and independent leagues, but after discussing with my agent we agreed to wait for a better opportunity, and that choice led here." He longed to return to the Korean stage, so he turned down offers from other leagues, and although he is an injured replacement player he was able to return to the Doosan Bears.
Although he trained individually without a team, he was in sufficient condition to play in games. In the July 21 comeback at Sajik against Lotte, Benjamin took the mound with a 75-pitch limit. But he pitched scoreless until two outs in the fifth. With a 2-0 lead, he needed only one out to be the winning pitcher. Yet Benjamin came off the mound. It could be seen as Doosan bench's cold-blooded judgment.
But the reality was different. Ahead of the July 23 Sajik game against Lotte, manager Kim Won-hyung told reporters, "The player himself voluntarily requested the substitution. He had already exceeded the limited pitch count (75 pitches) and seemed to think that with slightly reduced strength, if he faced the opposing middle hitter Reyes the game's momentum could shift. He also seemed to request the substitution thinking about pitching twice a week."
He added, "The staff and I wanted Benjamin to face Reyes. If it went to Son Ho-young, we were preparing Lee Young-ha," explaining the behind-the-scenes. In fact, pitching coach Jung Jae-hoon went up to the mound, and Benjamin could be seen coming off the mound without lingering.
The six-week replacement player already adopted a team-first mindset. Benjamin also explained, "I wanted to finish the fifth inning, but it was my first real game and with a schedule that requires pitching twice a week it could have affected the Sunday game."
The "twice-a-week pitching" Benjamin referred to targeted the LG Twins, who had been his "nemesis" while he stayed in Korea. Against LG over three years Benjamin recorded his best numbers. He had the best record against them with 10 games, 5 wins, 2 losses and a 1.66 earned run average. The season's first Jamsil rival game is coming up. At the center will stand Benjamin, who will make LG tremble.
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