The NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization kicked off the New Year by announcing that they’ve re-signed outfielder Aaron Altherr and right-hander Drew Rucinski to new one-year contracts for the 2021 season. Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net tweets that Altherr’s deal comes with a $1.3MM guarantee and another $100K available via incentives, while Rucinski will be paid $1.6MM with up to $200K of incentives. Altherr is represented by All Bases Covered. Rucinski is represented by Paragon Sports.
Altherr, 30 next month, had some success with the Phillies in 2015 and 2017 but never fully established himself as a big league regular. By 2019, he was designated for assignment multiple times and split the season between three clubs, going just 5-for-61 at the MLB level.
It was a different story in South Korea for Altherr. He mashed opposing pitching at a .278/.352/.541 clip and belted 31 home runs, 20 doubles and seven triples to go along with 22 steals in 25 tries. Altherr was 27 percent better than a league-average hitter, by measure of wRC+, so it’s not a surprise that the KBO-champion Dinos sought to bring him back for a return effort.
Rucinski, who turned 32 just two days ago, will return for a third season with the Dinos. The former Indians and Angels farmhand made it to the Majors as an undrafted free agent, logging a combined 54 innings between the Halos, Twins and Marlins from 2014-18 — albeit without much success. He’s found a home with the Dinos, however, pitching to an identical 3.05 ERA in each of his first two seasons there. Rucinski racked up 183 innings in 2020, averaging 8.2 strikeouts and 2.8 walks per nine frames along the way.
You go where they pay you, period… If Korea pays better then that is the destination for some players…
Agreed…they have a skill that has an unknown expiration date, so gotta grab what they can now to live comfortably later..good for both of them…can’t be easy living/working in a foreign country
I lived and worked in Korea for a year and absolutely loved it. Wouldn’t hesitate to go back if given the chance. I consider these players that thrive overseas as lucky.
What a beautiful gift for the new year. Signings like this will go a long way toward normalizing our relations with the supreme leader.
Wrong Korea
Failed attempt at a bad and also wrong joke. Triple win buddy
LOL. Good one. Made me laugh.
Nice for Altherr and still young enough to come back to MLB although maybe Japan first.
A reminder that athletes can still make a million dollars a year or more playing pro ball even if you can’t quite make it in MLB.
Yep. It’s like soccer players in pretty much the rest of the world that could never play in the top levels of pro soccer there, they come to the US and are superstars.
Aaron Altherr aka one of the worst Mets players I’ve ever had the displeasure to see play. And that’s saying something since we have a lot of garbage players
His garbage ass just got over a million guaranteed. How much was your guaranteed contract for Superman?
Dinos!
As most of you here know, I’m a pitcher. And after watching some KBO last season, I think one of my best comps in Drew Rucinski. I swear I pitch just like him (though hopefully I’ll have more velo). The break of the pitches, the motion, the arm slot, everything. I am Drew Rucinski.
Hi Drew!
I’m Rick Harrison
I do believe Alther will be back in the majors next year if he continues to hit like last year.
Dinos repeat.
The televised games during the shutdown made me a KBO fan.