Korea’s Doosan Bears have agreed to terms with Pirates minor league third baseman Deibinson Romero, Yoo Jee-ho of Yonhap News reports (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net). A buyout still must be finalized with the Bucs, per the report, but Doosan has already announced that it will add Romero (Korean language link, also courtesy of Kurtz).
The 28-year-old Romero is enjoying a career year thus far at Triple-A Indianapolis, slashing .302/.403/.548 with six home runs in 155 plate appearances. A native of the Dominican Republic, Romero spent all of his professional career in the Twins organization before joining Pittsburgh as a minor league free agent before the season.
Romero has always shown a quality approach at the plate, walking twice for every three strikeouts in over 1,000 turns at bat in Triple-A. And he has shown legitimate power at times, swatting 19 long balls in his 2012 run at Double-A. After putting it all together thus far in 2015, it seems he’ll have a chance to bolster his earnings (and enjoy rather a different ballplaying experience) with a run through the KBO.
Agree with you on the KBO. Still one of the most enjoyable experiences I have ever had was going to a game there.
I’ve never been, but it’s something I’ll be sure to do when the opportunity arises. I have had the pleasure of taking in a pair of NPB games, which were both amazing.
Nothing more enjoyable than a 20-12 ballgame! (authentic, and 11-19 the following day) KBO is crazy!
DIdn’t notice before but now the KBO even has an English website with some decent info.
I think down the stretch the Pirates could have used someone like Romero. Wish they would have parted with one of their minor league surplus outfielders instead.
Days like this remind one of how it is tough to be a fan of a minor league team. Deibi’s been doing great for the Indians this year, and was pretty much my favorite player on the team. It’s one thing if he gets the call, so I can still root for him on the Pirates, but I don’t follow Korean ball at all. Good luck to him, but I would have preferred to see him play when we catch the game this weekend.