Erick Fedde

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Erick James Fedde
(Feddeccini)

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Biographical Information[edit]

Pitcher Erick Fedde worked six seasons in the big leagues before winning the Korea Baseball Organization MVP.

He was 14-8 in high school, but won All-State as a senior and was also All-State in soccer. [1] The San Diego Padres took him in the 24th round of the 2011 amateur draft but he did not sign. As a freshman at UNLV, he had a 6-5, 3.59 record. He was 7-3 with a 3.92 ERA as a sophomore and was 4th in the Mountain West Conference with 83 K and tied for 4th in wins. He spent the summer with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod League, posting a 3-1, 2.34 record. He then joined the US college team, pitching against Cuba. [2]

Fedde improved to 8-2, 1.76 as a junior. Only John Richy won more games in the MWC and he was 4th in K. He won Conference Pitcher of the Year. [3] He was selected by the Washington Nationals and scout Mitch Sokol in the first round of the 2014 amateur draft with the 18th overall pick and soon signed with the team. He had Tommy John surgery shortly thereafter. [4] Entering 2015, Baseball America rated him as the #90 prospect in the minors.

In his pro debut, he pitched in 2015 for the Auburn Doubledays (4-1, 2.57 in 8 G) and Hagerstown Suns (1-2, 4.34 in 6 G). Baseball America named him as the 82nd-best prospect in the minors, 4th in the Nats chain (after Lucas Giolito, Trea Turner and Victor Robles. He split 2016 between the Potomac Nationals (6-4, 2.85, 95 K, 19 BB in 91 2/3 IP) and the Harrisburg Senators (2-1, 3.99 in 5 G). He was 4th in the Washington farm system in K, with 123 (between Reynaldo López and Joan Baez). Baseball America also rated him as the #9 prospect in the Carolina League (between Michael Kopech and Ian Happ) [5] and as having the best breaking ball in the loop, as well as the best slider in the Nats chain. [6]

He opened 2017 with Harrisburg and was 3-3 with a 3.04 ERA in 17 games (7 starts) there. Moving up to the Syracuse Chiefs, he was 1-2 with a 4.76 ERA in 12 games (5 starts); he walked only 23 in 90 1/3 IP between the two stops. He was called up to the majors for the first time. Starting against the Rockies on July 30, he had a rough debut as Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu singled, then Nolan Arenado drew a walk. Gerardo Parra hit into a run-scoring double play and Raimel Tapia singled to make it 2-0. He had a nice second inning as he struck out the side (Trevor Story, Ryan Hanigan and Kyle Freeland). He went four innings, giving up ten hits, two walks and seven runs (all earned) with the three Ks; Matt Grace took over and Fedde took the loss to Freeland. He was 0-1 with a 9.39 ERA in 3 games for the 2017 Nationals. His season was cut short by a right flexor injury. [7]

The Nevada native split 2018 between Syracuse (3-3, 4.41 in 13 G) and the Nats (2-4, 5.54 in 11 G), also making one start (1 R in 4 IP; L) for Harrisburg. He missed about two months with shoulder problems. [8] His first MLB win came over Nick Pivetta and the Phillies. It was a similar situation the next year: 21 games for the 2019 Nationals (4-2, 4.50), two in AAA (1-1, 12.60 for the Fresno Grizzlies) and five for Harrisburg (2-0, 2.55). With Harrisburg, he threw six no-hit innings against the Bowie Baysox; Jordan Mills and Aaron Barrett completed the no-no. [9]

Throwing his sinker over 40% of the time, he was 2-4 with a 4.29 ERA for the Nationals in 2020, his first full season in the majors (there were no minors that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic). [10] He tied Alec Mills and Zach Wheeler for the third-most assists by a pitcher in the 2020 NL (12) and turned two double plays, trailing only Antonio Senzatela and Wheeler. He was 7-9 with a 5.47 ERA in 2021, tying Jake Arrieta for 7th in the NL with 81 earned runs allowed. In 2022, he fell to 6-13, 5.81. He tied Chad Kuhl and Ranger Suárez for 8th in the NL in walks (58), tied for 3rd in losses (behind teammate Patrick Corbin and Madison Bumgarner) and was 8th with 82 earned runs allowed.

After working with a pitching lab, he signed with the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization for $1 million. [11] He dazzled at 20-6 with a 2.00 ERA, .95 WHIP and 209 K in 180 1/3 IP. He led the 2023 KBO in wins (5 ahead of Wes Benjamin), strikeouts (45 ahead of #2 Woo-jin An), ERA (.39 ahead of An) and WHIP (.11 ahead of An). He was the 4th pitcher to win a KBO pitching Triple Crown, following Dong-yeol Son (a four-time winner), Hyun-jin Ryu and Suk-min Yoon. He was thus the first foreign pitcher to win that honor. He then won the KBO MVP, the second Dinos player to take that honor (Eric Thames had won in 2015). He received 102 of 111 votes; Si-hwan Roh was next with 6. [12] He also won the KBO Fielding Award as the top fielding pitcher in the league.

Following his successful season in Korea, he drew a lot of interest from MLB teams and on December 5, 2023, signed a two-year deal with the Chicago White Sox for a reported $15 million. He and All-Star Garrett Crochet stood head and shoulders above their teammates during the first half of the season, as with a team that was threatening to post an all-time worst record in the American League, he went 7-4, 3.11 in 21 starts. That made him the subject of numerous trade rumors starting in about early May, when it became clear that Chicago's season would be a disaster, so no one was really surprised when he was traded on July 29th. He was first sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers alongside two other veterans, P Michael Kopech and OF Tommy Pham, in return for three young players - IF Miguel Vargas and minor leaguers Alexander Albertus and Jeral Perez, and a player to be named later, a return that looked very meager for the Sox given that the going rate in deals concluded over the previous few days was two prospects per major league veteran, with that rising to three for players in higher demand. So Fedde could have landed that return all by himself. In any case, the Dodgers immediately flipped him to the St. Louis Cardinals along with Pham in return for IF Tommy Edman and minor leaguer Oliver Gonzalez, so it would be in St. Louis that he would pursue his season.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ UNLV bio
  2. ↑ ibid.
  3. ↑ Las Vegas Review-Journal
  4. ↑ 2022 Nationals Media Guide, pg. 141
  5. ↑ 2017 Baseball Almanac, pg. 378
  6. ↑ 2022 Nationals Media Guide, pg. 141
  7. ↑ ibid.
  8. ↑ ibid.
  9. ↑ MILB.com
  10. ↑ 2022 Nationals Media Guide, pg. 141
  11. ↑ Washington Post
  12. ↑ Yonhap News Agency

Further Reading[edit]

  • John Denton: "Fedde, Pham to Cards; Edman to Dodgers in 3-team deal with White Sox", mlb.com, July 29, 2024. [1]
  • Scott Merkin: "White Sox agree to deal with RHP Fedde, the '23 KBO MVP", mlb.com, December 5, 2023. [2]
  • Scott Merkin: "How Fedde earned his chance with the White Sox", mlb.com, December 8, 2023. [3]

Related Sites[edit]

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