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Samsung ace Ariel Jurado shines despite win-loss record

Published: 29 Apr. 2026, 14:01

Samsung Lions’ Ariel Jurado pitches during a game against the KT Wiz on April 3. [SAMSUNG LIONS]

By several measures, Samsung Lions ace Ariel Jurado has been one of the most effective pitchers in Korean baseball so far this year. However, he only has two wins to show for it after six starts.

Pitching wins are heavily dependent on factors over which starters have no control, leading modern-day analysts to consider them largely meaningless when assessing starting pitchers' value.

For instance, a starter may settle for a no-decision or, even worse, a loss after throwing seven innings of one-run ball if his teammates don't give him any run support. A starter may also see his bullpen fritter away a big lead in late innings to cost him a win.

Jurado, 2-1 with an excellent 1.62 ERA, has been no stranger to these scenarios.

He has opened the 2026 KBO season with six consecutive quality starts, an outing in which a starter goes at least six innings and allows no more than three earned runs. Since serving up three earned runs over six innings in his season debut on March 28, Jurado has allowed just four earned runs total in five starts covering 33 innings in April.

However, wins have been hard to come by. On April 10, Jurado gave up two runs — one unearned — in six innings against the NC Dinos. The Lions were up 4-2 when the bullpen took over, but the Dinos tied the game with two runs in the top of the eighth. The Lions fought back to beat the Dinos 8-5, but Jurado wasn't credited with the win.

Last Wednesday, Jurado went seven innings and gave up only a run against the SSG Landers. He left with the Lions nursing a 2-1 lead, but the bullpen coughed up two runs in the top of the ninth to lose 3-2.

Against the Doosan Bears on Tuesday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Jurado was two outs away from earning his much-deserved win, with the Lions up 3-0. He had thrown seven shutout innings and struck out his season-high seven batters without walking anybody.

And yet, the bullpen fell apart once again — surrendering three runs with one out in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings and waste Jurado's gem.

Samsung Lions' Ariel Jurado roars after finishing the top of the seventh inning without allowing a run during a game against the SSG Landers on Oct. 14, 2025. [NEWS1]

After the Lions scored twice in the top 10th to win 5-4, Jurado said he wasn't putting too much stock into his personal win-loss record.

"It's still early in the season, and my mindset going into this game was to just do my job," Jurado said. "Over the course of a season, there will be good days and some bad days."

Tuesday was clearly one of those good days for Jurado. He threw the kitchen sink at the Bears, relying on his usual six-pitch mix of two-seamer, slider, changeup, four-seamer, cutter and curveball. Jurado used four different types of pitches to get his seven strikeouts — two with the cutter, two with the two-seamer, two with the changeup and one with the four-seamer.

He has drastically cut down on his four-seam fastball usage this year, going from his career-high 34.2 percent last year to his career-low 18 percent. On the flip side, his two-seam fastball usage has jumped from 16 percent last season to 27.8 percent this season.

This essentially means more than 80 percent of Jurado's pitches aren't straight. Jurado will never be mistaken for a power pitcher — his four-seamer can touch 150 kilometers per hour (93 miles per hour) but usually sits in the mid-140s — but he can keep baffling hitters by mixing a wide variety of pitches and changing their speeds.

The fourth inning on Tuesday was vintage Jurado, as he struck out the Bears' 3-4-5 hitters swinging on three different pitches — a two-seamer to Park Jun-soon, a changeup to Yang Eui-ji and a four-seamer to Yang Suk-hwan.

"I just want to eat up as many innings as I can and give the team a chance to win," Jurado said. "It's still early in the year, and I want to keep getting better and better."

Yonhap