Two former big leaguers are extending their stay in the Korea Baseball Organization, as Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency writes that outfielder Michael Choice and righty Jake Brigham have re-signed with the Nexen Heroes on a pair of one-year deals. Choice will earn a guaranteed $600K in his second season with the Heroes, while Brigham will earn $650K.
The 28-year-old Choice was the 10th overall pick in the 2010 draft and long ranked as one of the game’s top overall prospects, but never delivered on that billing in the Majors. In parts of three big league seasons with the A’s (who drafted him) and Rangers, he hit .188/.253/.320 in 300 plate appearances.
Choice opened the 2017 season with the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate and spent time with the Brewers’ Double-A club before joining the Heroes midseason. In 201 plate appearances after moving to the KBO, Choice raked at a .307/.390/.653 clip with 17 homers and eight doubles.
Brigham, 30 in February, pitched with the Braves in 2015 but was roughed up in the only 16 2/3 innings of his MLB career. After that 2015 season, he spent some time with the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball in 2016 before signing with the Heroes in 2017. His first KBO campaign resulted in 4.38 ERA with 6.1 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9 in 144 innings (24 starts).
“They could be Heroes….”
So what …..
That’s Michael’s Choice to be a Hero.
Choice pun.
Wherever they pay you…
This is why MLB should always be wary of signing a Korean, Chinese, Japanese hitter who mashes overseas. Based on these numbers if Choice never played MLB before I’d say he’d get a huge contract
That’s true but sometimes players make legitimate improvements overseas, a la Eric Thames
KBO is like AA ball. I’d expect only the top players like Thames and Kang to make an impact in MLB.