How did 'Rohas, Alcantara, Cuevas, etc.' KT bring MVP and 20-win pitchers together in one team

How did 'Rohas, Alcantara, Cuevas, etc.' KT bring MVP and 20-win pitchers together in one team

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Mel Rojas Jr., MVP of the 2020 KBO regular season, Raul Alcantara, 33, who is in full bloom as a pitcher with 20 wins (2020) for the Doosan Bears, and William Cuevas, 35, who led the KT Wiz to its first win in 2021 through strong pitching. In particular, Rojas and Cuevas are long-term foreign pitchers, who have been in their sixth and seventh years, respectively. How could KT bring such good foreign pitchers.

Dave Defreitas, 44, KT Wiz Scout Team's foreign player manager, is a member of KT, but rarely seen in Korea. He spends most of a season traveling to various parts of the U.S., Mexico and Japan, gathering information on foreign players. He takes care of all those tasks by himself. Despite tough times, he scouted big players including Rojas and Cuevas.
"The most important thing for a scout is a human network," said DeFreitas, who recently met KT at Geelong Baseball Center in Australia, the site of KT's spring camp. "It is only through human resources (as well as records) that we can get detailed information on who the scout is. Fortunately, I met a lot of good people. There are a lot of people in the U.S. who know each team. We were able to recruit players with potential by recommending them."

Before joining KT in 2017, DeFreitas had extensive international experience as well. He worked in the international scouting part for three years with the New York Yankees of the U.S. Major League Baseball and for the Cleveland Guardians for six years. He also has a unique background of playing in the Japanese independent league for two years before serving as the front desk manager. With his network connections he has accumulated while working in various fields, he is now helping KT.

By what standards will he select players? Players who have performed well overseas are knocking on the door of the KBO League. However, many players have difficulty adapting themselves to the sport and leave in a short period of time. Defreitas emphasized this point and said, "Players' skills are important, but we also value their personality and mentality." "There is a foreign player who approaches his Korean teammates first. Players who make friends and learn Korean certainly seem to succeed in the 먹튀검증 KBO League," he added.

Defreitas not only scouts but also looked carefully at how selected players adapt to KT. "Didn't Cuevas have difficulty adapting (to the team at first)? I helped him adapt to Korea by talking to him a lot," he recalled.

DeFreitas is expected to expand its playing field this year. It is due to the Asian Quarter that the KBO League plans to implement. Starting in 2026, KBO clubs are allowed to recruit additional Asian players in addition to the current foreign players (three each). This includes not only Japanese and Taiwanese players but also Australian players. "Japanese baseball is good, but there are also many good players in the Australian and Taiwanese leagues right now. We need to quickly identify these players," DeFreitas said.

Defreitas came to Australia to meet KT's spring camp schedule. The move is aimed at seeing the Australian national team players playing against the Hanwha Eagles in a friendly match there, and the Melbourne Aces players of the Australian Baseball Organization playing against KT. "There are many potential players in the Australian national team. There are players who can join our team or other teams (KBO League) through the Asian quarter," he said. "We will try to find out the strengths and weaknesses of our players and help them."

Defreitas said he felt great joy when Rojas won the MVP award in 2020, and when KT won the combined championship in 2021. He said, "It is my role to help KT win again. I hope my chosen players will stand high with my team. That's my reward."