The Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization have signed outfielder Socrates Brito and right-hander Ronnie Williams to one-year contracts, the team announced. Reports out of South Korea last week indicated that Brito was joining the Gwangju-based team (hat tip to The Athletic’s Sung Min Kim).
MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that Brito will earn a $600K salary with another $300K available in contract incentives, with the Yonhap News’ Jeeho Yoo noting that $100K of Brito’s guaranteed money is a signing bonus. Also via Yoo, Williams will get a $300K salary and a $100K signing bonus, with $350K more available in incentives.
Brito has appeared in parts of four MLB seasons, hitting .179/.216/.309 over 218 plate appearances with the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays from 2015-19. He signed a minor league contract with the Pirates in 2020 and played at the team’s alternate training site, but opted out of the season in September for tragic reasons, as Brito’s brother passed away from COVID-19. Returning to the field in 2021, Brito hit .251/.315/.376 over 419 PA with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate.
This performance represented a notable step down from Brito’s usual strong Triple-A numbers, as he had always produced in his previous stops with the Diamondbacks’ and Jays’ top farm clubs. Some dropoff isn’t unusual given a full year away from the game, though it was Brito’s first season outside of a Triple-A environment that was very favorable to hitters. Arizona’s Triple-A team played in the Pacific Coast League, while the 2019 season (which Brito spent with Toronto’s Buffalo affiliate) saw offensive numbers explode all across Triple-A baseball.
A trip to the KBO League might be what Brito needs to get his career back on track, as he enters his age 29 season. A noted prospect in his early days with the D’Backs, Brito can play any of the three outfield positions, though he has has more recently been deployed in the corners.
Williams turns 26 in early January, and the righty already has seven seasons of pro experience. A second-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2014 draft, Williams spent his first six years in the St. Louis organization before the Giants claimed him off waivers last winter. The Miami native has a 4.24 ERA and 21.41% strikeout rate over 409 1/3 career innings in the minors, pitching mostly as a reliever over his last three seasons. Only 15 2/3 of those innings came at the Triple-A level, as Williams didn’t reach Triple-A until this year in the Giants’ system.
The $400K (and the incentive possibilities) represent a much higher salary than Williams would have earned in the minors this year, and it makes sense that he would take the guaranteed money now rather than roll the dice on signing another minor league deal and trying to finally crack a big league roster. The Tigers deal also allows Williams for some chance at reinvention, and a chance to showcase his skills for either further opportunities abroad or for MLB scouts.
I wonder how much they study Classical Greek history in Korea? It is Western Civilization after all. Would the name Socrates be any more odd than any other Western name?
Just things I ponder when wishing I could be asleep.
“All we are is dust in the wind, dude.”
All we are is dust in the wind dude.
Great song, which touches and becomes more reality based the older we get my friend.
You’re my boy, Blue!
Good signing. Brito is a thinking man’s OF
One of the heroes of SABR for his declaration: “The unexamined game is not worth playing.”
A whole new culture can mock this guys idiot parents naming him Socrates.
The Yankees signed Socrates Brito on January 6 and now he’s gone. I guess he was doomed. A date that will live in infamy.
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
Ronnie Williams is the first signing I seen where the player has no MLB and hung around the minors for a good while. Guys going over seas usually have a cup of coffee or just became a minor league free agent after 4 years of success with no call up. Wish him luck to achieve the dream of playing in the mlb
Socrates Brito and Carlos Rodon the thinker. That would be a pretty wiiiccked smaht battery. How you like them apples?
I see your Rodon and raise you an Archimedes Caminero.
Ronnie Williams reminds me of the Ricardo Pinto signing the SK Wyverns did in 2020 that blew up in SK’s face. Brito on the other hand should do quite well in the KBO.
what about Pinto’s track record says he’ll even last the year?
Pinto was horrible in 2020 at age 26 in the KBO with a 6.17 ERA, 5.53 FIP, 5.10 xFIP in 162 IP (30 starts) while having 112 strikeouts against 90 walks. Williams has less experience as a starting pitcher than Pinto though and poor control of his pitches (both have some groundball tendencies that help out though.)