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KBO Signings: Heredia, Naile, Reyes

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A trio of former big leaguers re-signed with teams in the Korea Baseball Organization this week.

  • Outfielder Guillermo Heredia re-signed with the SSG Landers (X link via Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net) on a $1.6MM deal with another $200K in incentives. It’ll be the third KBO season for the Cuban-born outfielder. Heredia, who suited up for five MLB teams during a seven-year run, is coming off a .360/.399/.538 line with 21 homers and 31 doubles. He owns a .343/.393/.502 slash over two seasons in Korea. Heredia’s most recent big league experience came as a depth outfielder for the Braves in 2022. The Landers signed Mitch White and re-upped Drew Anderson earlier this month, so the Heredia deal finalizes their trio of foreign players to open next season.
  • The Kia Tigers retained righty James Naile on a $1.6MM deal with $200K in incentives, tweets Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. The 31-year-old hurler is headed into his second KBO season. His first year could hardly have gone better. As Yoo notes, Naile won the league’s ERA title with a 2.53 mark across 149 1/3 innings on a Tigers team that went on to win the Korean Series title. Naile missed time late in the season when he was hit in the jaw by a comebacker, but he made it back in time for the championship series. A former 20th round pick out of UAB, Naile made 17 appearances with the Cardinals between 2022-23. The Tigers signed righty Adam Oller earlier this offseason. They’ve yet to announce whether they’ll re-sign outfielder Socrates Brito, who has spent the past three seasons there and is coming off a .310/.359/.516 showing.
  • Outfielder Victor Reyes is returning to the Lotte Giants on a $1MM deal with $250K in incentives (X link via Kurtz). The switch-hitting center fielder had a .352/.394/.511 slash with 40 doubles and 15 longballs in his first season with Lotte. Reyes, 30, appeared in parts of five seasons with the Tigers during his stint in the majors. He played nearly 400 games for Detroit between 2018-22, hitting .264/.294/.379 in almost 1300 plate appearances. The Giants still have two spots available for foreign players, both of which can be used on pitching. Charlie Barnes and Aaron Wilkerson held those positions in 2024, though the team has yet to announce whether either pitcher will be back next season.

Posting Window For Hyeseong Kim Likely To Begin Next Week

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It’s already widely known that the Korea Baseball Organization’s Kiwoom Heroes will post infielder Hyeseong Kim for major league teams this offseason. An exact timetable, however, hadn’t come into focus until today. Kim himself tells Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency (X link) that he expects the posting to be formalized next week. He’s planning to travel to the United States early next week in advance of the process.

Kim, who’ll turn 26 in January, has long looked the part of an interesting entrant into the offseason free agent market. The former double-play partner of current big leaguer Ha-Seong Kim, he’s old enough and has enough experience in the KBO to be considered a “professional” under Major League Baseball’s international free agent parameters. That allows him to sign a major league deal of any length and for any amount (unlike, say, NPB star Roki Sasaki, who’ll be limited to a minor league deal with a bonus that falls within the guidelines of MLB’s hard-capped international amateur system).

The left-handed-hitting Kim has turned in four straight above-average seasons at the plate in the KBO, batting over .300 with an on-base percentage of at least .372 in each of those four seasons. He’s light on power but did connect on a career-high 11 home runs this past season, adding in 26 doubles and four triples. Hitting the ball over the fence has never been Kim’s calling card, however. He’s developed into a KBO star due to his outstanding bat-to-ball skills, plus speed and plus glovework. Over the past four seasons, he’s swiped 135 bases in 155 attempts (87.1% success rate) and lowered his strikeout rate each season, culminating in just a 10.9% strikeout rate in 2024.

Overall, Kim carries a .321/.381/.418 over the past four seasons, including a .326/.383/.458 batting line this past season. He’s regarded as a plus defensive second baseman who can handle shortstop and has ample experience at both positions. The Mariners have already been linked to Kim, and he ought to command a fair bit of interest from other teams once his free agency begins in earnest. The A’s, Royals, Pirates, Braves, Yankees and Brewers make varying levels of sense as speculative fits.

Once the Heroes formally post Kim, it will open a 45-day window during which he and his representatives at CAA Baseball can negotiate freely with all 30 major league teams. Any team that signs Kim will be paying not only the agreed-upon guarantee to the player himself, but a formal posting/release fee to the Heroes. That fee, which is in on top of the contract, is equal to 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of any dollars thereafter. Additional earnings, such as performance bonuses/incentives or salaries on option years fall under that purview once they are unlocked or exercised.

Jake Cave Signs With KBO’s Doosan Bears

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The Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization announced this week that they’ve signed outfielder/first baseman Jake Cave to a one-year, $1MM contract (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net). Cave, a client of the Ballengee Group, will head overseas for the first time in his career and earn the maximum salary for a first-year foreign player in the KBO.

A veteran of seven big league seasons, Cave spent the 2024 season with the Rockies and hit .251/.290/.396 with seven home runs in 346 plate appearances. The Rockies passed Cave through waivers following the season, and he elected free agency once he went unclaimed.

Cave, 32 next month, has spent the bulk of his career with the Twins but was also with the Phillies in 2023 and the Rox this past season. Overall, he’s a lifetime .236/.292/.400 hitter in the majors (85 wRC+). Contact, or a lack thereof, has been a notable issue for him. Cave has fanned in 30.8% of his career plate appearances. He does have a knack for making decent contact when he puts the ball in play, with nearly 25% of his career batted balls being line drives. That’s several percentage points north of league-average, but his lack of contact offsets that penchant for solid contact.

Cave has logged more than 1000 big league innings at each of the three outfield spots. The Phillies also gave him 122 innings at first base in 2023. He spent a good bit of time in center field with Minnesota early in his career but has worked primarily in the corners in recent seasons, drawing solid grades for his glovework. Statcast credits him with above-average sprint speed and above-average arm strength in the outfield, ranking him in the 60th and 61st percentile of MLB players this past season, respectively.

As Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency points out, Cave will round out the Bears’ international signings for the year. KBO clubs are permitted to carry three foreign players, and Doosan already signed pitchers Cole Irvin and Thomas Hatch earlier in the offseason.

KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes Sign Kenny Rosenberg

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The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization announced their trio of foreign-born players for the 2025 season. The Heroes signed outfielders Yasiel Puig ($1MM) and Ruben Cardenas ($450K salary with $150K in incentives) and left-hander Kenny Rosenberg ($700K salary with $100K in incentives). The deals were relayed (on X) by Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net.

Rosenberg is the only one of the trio who appeared in the majors in 2024. The 29-year-old southpaw pitched in seven games for the Angels, allowing an even 6.00 ERA across 24 innings. It was the third straight season in which Rosenberg made a handful of appearances for the Halos. He worked as a depth option for the rotation or low-leverage relief and combined for a 4.66 mark over 67 2/3 frames.

Los Angeles released Rosenberg within the first few days of the offseason. This will be the first overseas stint for the Cal State Northridge product. Rosenberg had previously split his eight-year professional career between the Rays and Angels organizations. He has a solid Triple-A track record. Over parts of five seasons at the top minor league level, he carries a 4.10 ERA while striking out a quarter of opposing hitters.

Puig hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2019. He played the 2022 season in Korea with the Heroes. Puig spent the ’24 campaign in Mexico. Cardenas spent most of this this year in Triple-A. He divided his time between the Rays’ and Phillies’ systems but didn’t get a big league call. He signed with the KBO’s Samsung Lions late in the year but only made seven appearances. The Cal State Fullerton product should get a more significant opportunity for the Heroes.

KBO’s Samsung Lions Re-Sign Lewin Díaz, Denyi Reyes

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The Samsung Lions of the KBO League announced that they have re-signed first baseman Lewin Díaz and right-hander Denyi Reyes, per Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net and Jiheon Pae (X link). Díaz will get a $100K signing bonus, a $500K salary and $200K of incentives while Reyes gets a $200K signing bonus, $700K salary and $300K of incentives.

Díaz, now 28, was a very popular player during his time in North America, though without getting an extended big league opportunity. He started his major league career with the Marlins but only got limited looks in the three years from 2020 to 2022.

Having exhausted his options after that stretch, his grip on his roster spot became tenuous and he was designated for assignment by the Fish. Before the 2023 season started, he went to the Pirates, Orioles, Atlanta and Orioles again via waivers or cash trades. The O’s did eventually run him through waivers and didn’t call him up in 2023.

In general, Díaz has performed well everywhere except the majors. He hit .181/.227/.340 in his brief looks in the big leagues but had a much nicer line of .258/.340/.479 at the Triple-A level over the 2021-2023 seasons. He is also considered a strong defender at first base, so that made for an intriguing combination, likely why he kept getting so much attention.

He went to the Mexican League in 2024 and put up a huge slash of .376/.452/.647 in 75 games there. He then got a deal with the Lions in the middle of August, with a strong .282/.331/.518 line in 29 games in Korea, seemingly enough to convince the Lions to bring him back.

Reyes, now 28, was a similarly fringe roster player during his time in the affiliated ball. He got to make three appearances for the 2022 Orioles and then got into nine games for the 2023 Mets, posting a 6.26 earned run average in his 27 1/3 innings.

He posted some intriguing rate stats in the minors but was victimized by the long ball. From 2021 to 2023, he threw 209 1/3 innings on the farm with a 21.4% strikeout rate that was close to average and 5.7% walk rate that was quite strong. But thanks to 47 balls leaving the yard in that time, he had a 5.59 ERA.

Reyes signed with the Lions going into 2024 and went on to have a solid year, with the groundball-heavy league seeming to be a good fit for him. He logged 144 innings over 26 starts with a 3.81 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate, 4.9% walk rate, 62.3% ground ball rate and 15 homers allowed. The Lions were evidently pleased with that performance and will bring him back for 2025.

Both players are still relatively young and could try to return to MLB in the future if they continue to have good results overseas, as players like Erick Fedde or Eric Thames have done. For now, they will lock in some decent money that’s in the vicinity of the MLB minimum, which will be $760K next year.

Thomas Hatch Signs With KBO’s Doosan Bears

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The Korea Baseball Organization’s Doosan Bears have signed right-hander Thomas Hatch, per a team announcement (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). The 30-year-old will earn $1MM in 2025, paid out as a $200K signing bonus and an $800K salary.

A third-round pick by the Cubs in the 2016 draft, Hatch was shipped to Toronto in the 2019 trade that brought right-hander David Phelps to Chicago. Hatch subsequently made his big league debut with the Blue Jays just a year later during the shortened 2020 season and impressed in his first taste of big league action with a 2.73 ERA in 26 1/3 innings of work. Solid as that top-level run prevention figure was, however, there were some potential red flags under the hood including an 11.9% walk rate and a rather pedestrian 4.14 FIP.

Given those concerning peripherals, it wasn’t necessarily a shock when the wheels came off for Hatch a bit during the 2021 season. The right-hander pitched just 14 innings in the majors with a 10.93 ERA over the next two years as he walked eight batters and struck out 12. In spite of those struggles, he continued to post decent numbers with Triple-A Buffalo and earned a more extensive opportunity in the majors during the 2023 season. It went reasonably well for the right-hander, as he posted a solid 4.08 ERA across 28 2/3 innings of work with the Blue Jays and Pirates. Looking under the hood, Hatch’s performance came with a strong 52.3% groundball rate and a respectable 20.2% strikeout rate while his walk rate dipped to a still elevated but more manageable 9.3%.

Those promising peripherals and improved results got the attention of the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, who signed him to a one-year deal last offseason. That first foray into overseas baseball didn’t go especially well for Hatch, as he was relegated to the Carp’s Western League affiliate for most of the season after struggling with the Central League club. While he dominated in 72 1/3 Western League innings to the tune of a 2.36 ERA, Hatch was torched in the Central League with a 7.36 ERA in 22 innings across five appearances. Those struggles were evidently enough for Hiroshima to part ways with Hatch this winter, leading him to head to South Korea to sign with the Bears. In the KBO, Hatch will lock down a larger salary than he would’ve been able to find in stateside ball and hope to re-establish himself as a pitcher, potentially opening the door to a more lucrative return to either NPB or MLB play in the future.

Drew Anderson Re-Signs With KBO’s SSG Landers

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Right-hander Drew Anderson has re-signed with the SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization, per a club announcement (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). Anderson will earn $1.2MM in 2025, with $50K available in incentives.

Anderson, 30, last played in the majors back in 2021. A 21st-round pick by Philadelphia in the 2012 draft, the righty made his big league debut in 2017 and spent the next half-decade bouncing between the major and minor leagues with the Phillies, White Sox, and Rangers organizations. In that time, he struggled to a 6.50 ERA in 44 1/3 innings of work at the big league level despite decent peripherals, including a 4.35 FIP. During the 2021-22 offseason, Anderson was released by the Rangers and opted against searching for a new stateside deal. Instead, he headed to Japan to pitch for Nippon Professional Baseball’s Hiroshima Carp on a $1MM deal.

The right-hander ultimately spent two seasons in NPB, and pitched quite well during that time. Anderson posted a 3.05 ERA in 115 innings across 34 appearances for the Carp in total, striking out 20.7% of opponents while walking just 8.4%. That was enough to earn him some stateside attention during the 2023-24 offseason, and Anderson landed with the Tigers on a minor league deal back in January. The right-hander failed to make Detroit’s Opening Day roster, however, and after just nine appearances with Triple-A Toledo the Tigers agreed to release him so he could head to South Korea and play for the Landers.

Anderson slotted into the Landers’ rotation alongside former big leaguers Kwang Hyun Kim and Roenis Elias and pitched fairly solidly in his first year of KBO play. While the right-hander’s 3.89 ERA was hardly exceptional, his 115 2/3 innings of work was his most in a season since 2018 and and he struck out an excellent 31.9% of opponents faced. That massive uptick in strikeout rate came with an elevated 10.7% walk rate, but that firepower makes it easy to imagine Anderson finding greater success with the Landers in 2025 and potentially getting the attention of MLB clubs once again next winter.

Should Anderson wish to make it back to the big leagues, there’s certainly reason for optimism that he’ll be able to do that. The KBO has served as a proving ground for other hurlers who struggled in their first taste of big league action in the past. Merrill Kelly is one standout example of a player who pitched in the KBO before returning to stateside ball to make a name for himself, and right-hander Erick Fedde landed a $15MM guarantee from the White Sox just last offseason after a dominant 2023 campaign in South Korea.

Mitch White Signs With KBO League’s SSG Landers

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The SSG Landers announced that right-hander Mitch White has agreed to a one-year, $1MM contract with the Korea Baseball Organization team.  White elected to become a minor league free agent at season’s end, after he was previously outrighted off the Brewers’ 40-man roster back in June.

A second-round pick for the Dodgers in the 2016 draft, White drew some top-100 attention during his time in the Los Angeles farm system, and he cracked the big leagues during the shortened 2020 campaign.  White posted a 3.58 ERA, 22.02% strikeout rate, and 8.31% walk rate over 105 2/3 innings with the Dodgers from 2020-22, working as either starter or reliever based on the team’s needs.

L.A. often shuttled White back and forth between Triple-A and the majors as part of this swingman role, and ultimately found him expendable enough to be dealt to the Blue Jays at the 2022 trade deadline.  The deal seemingly derailed White’s career, as the right-hander has badly struggled against MLB hitters since leaving the Dodgers organization.  He posted a 7.74 ERA in 43 innings for the Jays for the rest of the 2022 season, and a 7.18 ERA in 36 1/3 innings since Opening Day 2023.

White’s 2024 workload of 23 2/3 innings was split between Toronto, San Francisco, and Milwaukee.  The Giants picked White up from the Jays after Toronto designated him for assignment in April, and the Brewers acquired him a few weeks later after the Giants also sent him to DFA limbo.  White’s only time in the minor leagues was spent with the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate, and his numbers (4.06 ERA, 27.2% strikeout rate, and 8.8% walk rate) were at least a marked improvement over his time in the Show.

Since White’s chances of landing a guaranteed contract from a Major League team this winter weren’t great, the move to South Korea allows White (who turns 30 in December) the opportunity to lock in a seven-figure salary.  A strong showing with the Landers could put White back onto the radar for MLB teams next offseason, if he has interest in making a fairly quick return to North American baseball.  Playing in the KBO League also some additional personal appeal to White, whose mother is Korean.

KBO’s Doosan Bears Sign Cole Irvin

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The Korea Baseball Organization’s Doosan Bears announced that they’ve signed left-hander Cole Irvin to a one-year deal that’ll guarantee him $1MM, coming in the form of an $800K salary and $200K signing bonus (link via Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency).

It’ll be the first stint overseas for Irvin, who’s pitched in the majors with the Phillies, A’s, Orioles and Twins over the past six seasons. The now 30-year-old southpaw (31 in January) was a quality innings eater for the 2021-22 A’s, starting 62 games and pitching to a 4.11 ERA. Irvin’s 90.7 mph average fastball and 16.8% strikeout rate were both well below average, but he also demonstrated pinpoint command, limiting opponents to a 5.2% walk rate.

The Orioles acquired Irvin from the A’s in exchange for Darell Hernaiz heading into the 2023 season, hoping to solidify the back of their rotation. It didn’t pan out. Irvin was hit hard early and surprisingly optioned to Triple-A just weeks into the season. He returned later in the year and rebounded to finish with a 4.42 ERA in 77 1/3 frames, spending more time in the bullpen than in the rotation.

The 2024 season didn’t work out much better; Irvin was tagged for a 4.86 ERA in 16 starts and nine relief appearances before being designated for assignment and heading to the Twins via waivers. He allowed five runs in 3 2/3 frames with Minnesota, finishing out the season with a 5.11 ERA. The Twins outrighted him at the end of September, and he elected free agency in early October.

In all, Irvin heads to the KBO with a career 4.54 ERA, 17.1% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate in 593 big league innings. The Bears’ press release announcing his signing specifically touted the southpaw’s “great control,” which has indeed been Irvin’s greatest strength in the big leagues thus far.

Whenever a pitcher heads overseas on a one-year deal, it’s possible that some tweaks (new pitch, altered mechanics or pitch usage rates) yield big results and pique the interest of MLB clubs the following winter. But, it’s just as possible that Irvin will pitch his way into more lucrative opportunities in Asia. The $1MM salary he’s receiving this year is the maximum for first-year foreign signees in the KBO, but he could earn a raise next season or perhaps garner interest from a team in Japan, where players typically have greater earning power than in Korea.

KBO’s Kia Tigers To Sign Adam Oller

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Right-hander Adam Oller has agreed to terms with the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization, reports Ari Alexander of Houston’s KPRC-2. It’ll be the Gaeta Sports Management client’s first stint overseas, and he’ll join the reigning KBO champs.

Oller, 30, has pitched in each of the past three big league seasons. Originally a 2016 draftee of the Pirates, he wound up out of affiliated ball by 2019 but parlayed stints in the independent Frontier League (2019) and in the Australian Baseball League (2020-21) into a minor league opportunity with the Mets. He made the most of that, pitching his way into prospect status with an outstanding age-26 season split between Double-A and Triple-A. The A’s were intrigued enough to acquire Oller and fellow righty J.T. Ginn as their return from the Mets in the trade sending Chris Bassitt to Queens.

Things didn’t work out for Oller in Oakland, however. He was in the majors early during his first season with the organization but hit hard in both 2022 and 2023, yielding a combined 7.09 ERA in 94 frames. The A’s tried to pass him through waivers in July of ’23, but the Mariners claimed him and optioned him to Triple-A Tacoma. He’d spend the remainder of the season with Seattle’s top affiliate, eventually clearing waivers and electing free agency after being dropped from the roster in October.

Oller caught on with the Guardians and Marlins on minor league deals in the year that followed, the latter of whom selected him to the majors this past July. He pitched another 42 1/3 MLB frames across eight starts but was tagged for a 5.31 ERA. Oller did have a handful of nice outings in Miami, but it was an up-and-down tenure with more lows than highs. He was passed through waivers again at the beginning of this month, elected free agency and will quickly find a new opportunity overseas.

Despite his lack of MLB success, there’s reason to think Oller could fare well in the KBO. He posted sharp numbers in Triple-A in 2021-22, struggled through a disastrous season with the Athletics’ Triple-A Vegas club in 2023, and then again pitched to a 2.88 ERA with the Marlins’ top affiliate this past season. His 6.22 Triple-A ERA in 2023 skews his career-long mark to 5.01, but he’s typically been a solid arm at the top minor league level. Oller averages 93.7 mph on his four-seamer, complementing the pitch with a curveball and lesser-used changeup.

It’s at least feasible that Oller could spin one strong KBO season into a big league return, though success overseas can also open further opportunities in Asia. It’s common for players who thrive in the KBO to re-sign for a pay raise in their second season or perhaps to draw interest from teams in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. However it plays out, the earning power for Oller overseas is surely greater than it would be on a minor league deal in North America, and for a pitcher who’s already turned 30 and is still not into arbitration, that’s a compelling selling point.

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