Dec. 22: Lockett and the Bears are in agreement on a one-year contract, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reports. The agreement is still pending completion of a physical.
Dec. 20: Right-hander Walker Lockett is close to signing a deal with the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization, according to multiple Korean media outlets (hat tip to Daniel Kim of ESPN and DKTV). The Blue Jays hold Lockett’s MLB rights, as Kim notes, so there will likely be some money changing hands between the Bears and Jays to complete the transaction. Lockett is represented by O’Connell Sports Management.
The move to Seoul will send Lockett to his fourth different organization in as many months, as the Mariners claimed the righty away from the Mets in September, and Toronto claimed him from Seattle two weeks ago. Lockett is coming off a season that saw him post a 4.96 ERA, 2.75 K/BB, and 6.1 K/9 over 16 1/3 combined innings with the Mets and Mariners.
Modest as those numbers are, they represented a big improvement over the 8.84 ERA Lockett delivered in his first 37 2/3 innings in the Show (with the Padres and Mets in 2018-19). After allowing home runs at a 2.4 HR/9 pace in those first two seasons, Lockett had a somewhat more palatable 1.1 HR/9 in 2020, and he also allowed much less hard contact than in 2018-19. Lockett made the cutter into a much more prominent part of his arsenal in 2020, throwing the pitch over 20 percent of the time.
Lockett started eight of his 20 career MLB games and was a regular starter in the minors (97 of 114 games), so it seems probable that the Bears will give him another look out of their rotation. A fourth-round pick for the Padres back in the 2012 draft, Lockett is still only 26, and has posted decent numbers over nine minor league seasons, relying on lots of grounders rather than big strikeout totals.
So that likely means Raul Alcántara is likely either going to the NPB or MLB since the Doosan Bears are also close to signing Ariel Miranda.
I would be NPB for a nice contract…can’t see him getting much from MLB, then again, Flexen got a nice deal, so who knows this off season
he’s already rumored to be going to the NPB.
Lockett is a control pitcher with very good location, throws all his pitches right down the middle
I wonder how much money the Jays are getting. Maybe $100,000 like a Rule 5 pick?
Lockett seems like a guy who very well could go overseas for a couple of seasons and establish himself there as a valuable rotation piece and then set himself up to return stateside as a legitimate starting pitching option. He seems like he’s been “really close” to breaking through in the US and going over to the KBO could wind up being a really great opportunity for him… and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he winds up excelling over there and returning to the majors in a year or two similar to how several other players have in recent years.
Not sure if you know but there’s some pretty NSFW ads for joychat currently coming up on the posts…
Could be the next Flexen in the 2021 offseason.
Ah Walter Lockett… I remember him from his time from the Mets, every detail, I’ll never forget anything about good ol’ Walter
Cosmo, maybe you are trying to be funny, but the man’s name is Walker, not Walter. And I wish him luck over there.
That’s the joke. Maybe you have to be a Met fan to understand. I wish him the best too.
move has been confirmed by the Bears. Roster spot opens up on Jays 40 man roster.
en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20210108008900315