The Korea Baseball Organization’s Kiwoom Heroes have reached a new deal with right-hander Ariel Jurado, Jeeho Yoo of the Yonhap News reports (via X). Jurado will earn $1.2MM in salary on his new one-year contract, and another $100K worth of incentive bonuses are also available.
Jurado’s debut season in the KBO League was a success, as he posted a 2.65 ERA over 183 2/3 innings. Though he struck out only 19.3% of batters, Jurado (who turns 28 next month) had a solid 5.4% walk rate and a staggering 65.5% groundball rate. The righty allowed only seven homers last season, a noteworthy feat in the hitter-friendly KBO.
Jurado’s performance was one of the few highlights of a tough season for the Heroes, who followed up a Korean Series appearance in 2022 with a last-place finish in 2023. It isn’t surprising that the team was eager to retain Jurado as it tries to get back on track, and Jurado cashed in with a substantial raise on his $850K salary from last season. Another nice showing in the KBO League could get Jurado some more attention from MLB clubs, though his grounder-heavy approach doesn’t have as much traditional appeal to scouts as a more strikeout-reliant pitcher.
A veteran of three MLB seasons, Jurado tossed 181 innings for the Rangers and Mets in 2018-20, with all but a single one of those frames coming in a Texas uniform. Jurado posted a 5.97 ERA while working mostly as a swingman, and he started 27 of his 45 Major League appearances. He missed all of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, and then posted a 3.30 ERA over 57 1/3 frames in the Twins’ minor league system in 2022 without getting another call up to the majors.
vaderzim
Korean Hot Stove is ablaze.
Jesse Chavez enthusiast
Korean Hot Stove use to be a wok and grill joint on 48th street and Cunningham!
FanOfTheUmpires
1 penny base salary, $1,199,999.99 deferred.
stpofsd
Man, I hate the dodgers but that joke is getting old really fast and wasn’t very good the first time
A'sfaninLondonUK
@stpofsd
Ain’t that the truth. Complain to MLB. Or to the MLBPA. But don’t complain about a method that is available to each and every of the 30 major league teams….
greatgame 2
You only strike out 19% batters these days and no MLB team will sign you even with a high groundout rate. Baseball has changed drastically the past 5 years.