The KBO opened its season nearly a week ago and Roenis Elías had an impeccable first start for the SSG Landers the left-hander from Guantánamo, Cuba tossed six scoreless innings against the Lotte Giants during the second game of the year, he did not factor in the decision.
Elías fanned five batters and walked none in SSG’s 7-6 walkoff win against the Giants. The hurler’s teammate and countrymen Guillermo Heredia Gabe the Landers the win via a homerun. Elías trained very hard this offseason and is looking to dominate this season.
🇨🇺Roenis Elias (@EliasRoenis) went 6 scoreless innings in his season debut for the SSG Landers
6 IP l 4 H l 5 SO l 1 BB l 0 ER
Pitch Breakdown: 79 Pitches
•Fastballs: 36
•Changeups: 25
•Sliders: 18#KBO 🇰🇷 #Cuba #엘리아스pic.twitter.com/f5JYrWoBx9— CubanBaseballZone 🇨🇺⚾️🌎 (@CubanBaseballZN) March 24, 2024
The pitcher who was the ace for Cuba in the World Baseball Classic had a 2-0 record and 5.48 ERA last year in four starts with the Iowa Cubs. (AAA), before coming to SSG Elías where he made 22 starts posting an 8-6 record and 3.70 earned run average. The lefty also fanned 93 in 131⅓ innings pitched and had a solid 1.31 WHIP in the KBO.
The southpaw was also coming off a dominant season in the best Winter League in the Caribbean in 2022, the LIDOM. With the Águilas Cibaeñas of the Dominican Elías sported a 4-0 record, 0.92 earned run average, a 0.77 WHIP and fanned 38 batters in 39 innings pitched. The only reason the hurler did not win the pitcher of the year in the league was because he was an inning short of qualifying for the minimum amount of IP for the prize.