Former Angels and Athletics corner infielder David MacKinnon has signed with the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization, the team announced. Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency tweets that MacKinnon is guaranteed $1MM on the deal — a $900K salary and $100K signing bonus.
MacKinnon, who turns 29 today, was a 32nd-round pick by the Angels in 2017 and made a brief big league debut in 2022, appearing in 22 games and taking 57 turns at the plate between Anaheim and Oakland. He posted a tepid .140/.228/.140 slash in that tiny sample, but MacKinnon has posted a hearty .294/.412/.464 slash in his minor league career — including a gaudy .318/.416/.585 output in his 2022 Triple-A run between the Angels and A’s organizations.
That minor league production led to interest from Japan last offseason, and MacKinnon spent the ’23 campaign playing for Nippon Professional Baseball’s Seibu Lions. He batted .259/.327/.401 and swatted 15 homers in 514 plate appearances there, and he’ll now jump to the KBO and continue to earn at a rate that vastly outpaces anything he’d earned as a late-round draft flier and career minor leaguer.
Happy birthday to you!
Am I a bad fan because, in my old age, I no longer follow closely enough to know who the heck most of these guys signing in Asia are?
They weren’t relevant players anyway.
@eddie – Not at all. I’ve never heard of him either and I play fantasy baseball so I usually at least recognize the names of current players.
When I lived in Korea, locals at the bar would ask me about foreign players and if I knew them. Most of the time they were no names or washouts. Dustin Nippert had a great KBO career and I barely heard of him. I remember Jorge Cantù came and I was almost excited to see how he would do abroad.
He’s Thor’s twin brother
Seriously he and Syndergaard used to sit next to each other in the Angels dugout and it was amazing how similar they looked. Even the announcers would just giggle and laugh
yes. here’s a link.
reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/vfo4tx/noah_synderg…
Looks like McKinnon is going to be replacing Jose Pirela in the Samsung Lions lineup for next year
KBO is becoming a hot league.
The league average player in the everyday lineup is about AAA level, They are still behind NPB in terms of talent level
From the Lions to the Lions. He doesn’t even need to change the uniform.
Mac had a solid year for Seibu last year and his walk up song is perfect, Mark Morrison’s Return of the Mack.
Yes he had an average year in NPB I actually made a list with the US players that had solid/average performances in KBO and NPB that could be a potential addition to team USA for the Premier 12 next year if they don’t return to MLB. I think some of this guys and other players going to KBO and NPB that have good seasons in 2024 plus some AAA talent could be the team for the Premier 12( Fedde is back to MLB)
*Played in KBO in 2023*
SP W-L
Erick Fedde 20-6
Brandon Waddell 11-3
Wess Benjamin 15-6
Adam Plutko. 11-3
David Buchanan 12-2
Austin Dean (1B) – BA : 313 HR: 23 RBI: 95
Jason Martin (CF) – BA: 283 HR: 17 RBI:90
*Played in NPB in 2023*
Sheldon Neuse – 240 BA, 9 HR, 56 RBI
Matt Davidson – 210 BA , 19 HR, 44 RBI
Ryan McBroom- 222 BA, 6 HR, 36 RBI (Was injured )
David MacKinnon – 259 BA, 15 HR , 50 RBI
SP W-L
Cy Sneed 7-8
Peters Dillon 6-5
Foster Griffin 6-5
RP W-L
Nick Turley 7-1
JB Wendelken 2-2
All Samsung Lions foreign player now is ex NPB player. Albert Suarez, David Buchanan, also used to pitch in Yakult Swallows