By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- When pitching for the NC Dinos last year, left-hander Logan Allen put up good numbers against the KT Wiz but that did not mean the starter found them easy to handle. Though he posted a 2.70 ERA against the Wiz in five starts, his second-best mark against any opponent in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) in 2025, Allen said he "always knew they had good hitters."

Allen is glad he no longer has to face them. He is pitching for the Wiz now and has been one of their top starters for the past two months.

Allen first joined them in June on a six-week contract as a temporary replacement for injured starter Caleb Boushley. Then a combination of Allen's strong performance and Boushley's slow recovery from his shoulder trouble prompted the Wiz to hand Allen a full-fledged deal in July.

"It has been fun. This is a great team," Allen said of his current club in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. "I just pitched really well against them (last year) but you can see they all attacked, from top to bottom. There is not an easy hitter in the lineup. If I am an opposing pitcher, I would not want to face us.

"Every team has their first five, sometimes 3-4-5 hitters that do damage, but on this team, you see our No. 8 or 9 guy hitting .300," Allen continued. "It is something rare to see."

Numbers back up Allen's assessment. Through Thursday's games, the Wiz were leading the KBO with a .280 team batting average and with a .305 average with runners in scoring position. They are dead last in home runs with 80 but still rank third in runs scored with 592.

The Wiz are sitting pretty atop the standings with a 63-41-2 (wins-losses-ties) record.

"There are times you will give up runs and you feel like, 'How is the team going to respond?'" Allen said. "My last couple of outings, I gave up some runs early, and they just battled and kept me in the game, got me a win I probably did not deserve."

Allen has been doing his part to earn wins. He has gone 4-1 in nine starts with a 3.26 ERA over 49 2/3 innings. In 32 games last year, Allen pitched to a 4.53 ERA and a 7-12 record.

Allen said he has tweaked his repertoire from last season, increasing his curveball usage "just a touch" and throwing more fastballs.

"I am definitely using more fastballs and keeping hitters honest. But going forward, teams know that so I have to do a little bit better job of mixing, and using the slider and the cutter," Allen said. "The usage has changed a little but more but my attack plan is very much similar. The stuff is just a lot better, and the command is a lot better, but I need to do a little bit better job of getting left hand hitters out right now."

Allen said he felt "a lot less pressure" than he had initially thought he would face when joining a contending club midseason, because the Wiz had already been playing well and they did not necessarily look to him as their savior. Allen said he was content blending in with the rest of the team, and his heightened comfort level, with one full season in South Korea under his belt, also helped him with the adjustment.

After the Dinos chose not to bring him back, Allen pitched for Canada, the birthplace of his father, at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March. He parlayed a couple of strong outings at the tournament into a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Allen said the Dodgers had devised a plan to help him get back to his better days, with Allen himself admitting his "stuff was not very sharp" last year in the KBO. And just as he was nearing the finishing point of the Dodgers' program, with things finally starting to click, the Wiz came calling.

"It was hard to leave, but if I was going to come back (to the KBO), a team like KT would be a really good opportunity," Allen said. "Last year taught me a lot the positives and the negatives. I think the negatives were more important. I definitely feel 100 times better of a pitcher this year than last year."

Allen said he is pleased with "the quality of results" he has been getting this year and with his ability to minimize damage and not let potentially big innings spiral into something worse -- like he did at times last year.

"Here, I think I have done a pretty good job of what I like to call stopping the bleeding a little bit," he said. "That is a huge part of being here. Korean hitters are like sharks. When they smell blood in the water, they will just keep going and going forward. I feel like I am getting better and better every week.

"I know I will have some (starts) where I don't feel as sharp," he continued. "But just being able to make adjustments and pitch my way through with the new repertoire, I just feel a lot more confident, especially with the hitters and the defense on this team."

Allen said shedding some weight over the offseason has helped him perform better. He said he weighed around 260 pounds after the end of last season but he slimmed down to 213 prior to the WBC. He has been pitching at between 218 and 223 pounds lately.

"Just staying at the weight where I know I can still move and have the power. Too light is not always good, either," he said. "I have been very, very light before, and it was not very good. So I am in a really good spot right now, conditioning and body composition wise."

jeeho@yna.co.kr

(END)

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