The professional baseball Samsung Lions parted ways with David Buchanan, who played as their ace for the past four seasons, and hired a new foreign pitcher, Denny Reyes (27).On the 4th, the Samsung club announced, “We signed a contract with Reyes for a total of $800,000, including $100,000 in down payment, $500,000 in annual salary, and $200,000 in options.”Reyes, a right-handed pitcher born in 1996, is from the Dominican Republic and played for the New York Mets of the Major League Baseball (MLB) in the 2023 season.He appeared in 9 big league games, including 3 as a starter, with 2 losses and an ERA of 7.78. In Minor League Triple A, he recorded 2 wins, 3 losses, and an ERA of 5.79 in 20 games this season.The Samsung team said, “Reyes throws a fastball with an average speed of 147 km and uses a slider, change-up, and cut fastball,” adding, “It is especially optimized for the Automatic Ball-Strike System (ABS) to be introduced in the KBO League next season. “He throws a two-seam fastball well,” he explained.

Reyes also showed off stable control, recording a 1.13 on-base percentage (WHIP) per inning and 1.6 walks per 9 innings in his minor league career.Meanwhile, Samsung said, “We tried to sign a contract with Buchanan, but unfortunately it fell through because they did not respond to our final proposal.”Buchanan won more than 10 games every season from the 2020 season to last season, and also performed well in the 2023 season, posting a record of 12 wins, 8 losses, and an ERA of 2.54.Samsung early on established a contract renewal policy and negotiated with Buchanan, but was unable to narrow the gap.A Samsung official said, “It was difficult to compromise the terms of the contract due to the salary cap issue for foreign players.”Samsung replaced all three foreign players for the new season by recruiting Reyes.Samsung signed David MacKinnon for $1 million instead of existing foreign hitter Jose Pirella, and signed Connor Siebold for $1 million 슬롯게이밍 instead of foreign pitcher Taylor Widener.