Roenis Elias returns to SSG as Keisho Shirakawa departs

Baseball

Published: 03 Jul. 2024, 10:55 Updated: 03 Jul. 2024, 18:02

Roenis Elias returns to SSG as Keisho Shirakawa departs

SSG Landers starter Roenis Elias pitches in a game against the Kia Tigers at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on April 17. [NEWS1]

In with the old and out with the new.

The SSG Landers are bringing back starter Roenis Elias, the club announced Tuesday, and have said goodbye to Keisho Shirakawa, who came on as a temporary replacement player in May.

The change-up comes six weeks after Shirakawa, 22, joined the Landers under the league’s new “alternative foreign player” recruitment scheme, which allows clubs to bring in a stand-in for an injured foreign player without using up one of their two allotted switch-ups per season.

Keisho Shirakawa. [SSG LANDERS]

The Landers said in a Tuesday statement that they evaluated Elias’ physical condition and form over a six-week recovery period, including two appearances in the second-tier Futures League, and said his return would help strengthen the starting lineup in the second half of the season as a left-hander with “abundant starting experience.”

Elias, who is in his second season with the Landers, had a 4.72 ERA with two wins and three losses in the 2024 campaign before getting injured, last playing in a game on May 12.

The 35-year-old is set to make his return in the second game of a three-game series against the NC Dinos in Changwon, South Gyeongsang on Wednesday.

The Landers said they informed Shirakawa of his exit while he was with the club in Changwon and planned to present him with a “special gift” out of appreciation for his performance.

Shirakawa had a 5.09 ERA over five games with the Landers, picking up two wins and two losses. That was largely skewed by a 47.25 ERA in a June 7 game against the Lotte Giants when Shirakawa

He joined the Landers from the Tokushima Indigo Socks, a club that plays in an independent baseball league on Shikoku Island in Japan. He came in with a 2.17 ERA with four wins and one loss as one of the top-ranked pitchers in the four-team Shikoku Island League Plus.

Shirakawa was the first Japanese player to join the KBO since 2011.

Tuesday’s game between the Landers and the Dinos was postponed due to rain. The Landers sit in fifth place on the 10-team table as of press time, with the Dinos trailing in sixth.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]