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Jordan Balazovic Signs With KBO’s Doosan Bears

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Right-hander Jordan Balazovic has signed with the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization, according to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. Balazovic had previously been pitching for the Twins on a minor league deal he signed back in February.

Balazovic, 25, was selected by Minnesota in the fifth round of the 2016 draft and has spent his entire professional career with Minnesota to this point. The right-hander posted big numbers in the lower minors early in his career, including a 2.69 ERA with a 33.9% strikeout rate in 93 2/3 innings of work split between the Single-A and High-A levels back in 2019. That was enough to get the Ontario native some attention on top-100 prospect lists, and his respectable 3.62 ERA in 20 starts as a 22-year-old at the Double-A level did little to dissuade that.

Unfortunately, the wheels came off from Balazovic a bit from there. Since being promoted to the Triple-A level to open the 2022 campaign, the righty has struggled mightily at the level with a 6.35 ERA with an 11.5% walk rate against a 25% strikeout rate in 68 appearances at the level. A difficult 2022 season saw the youngster move to the bullpen in 2023 and, while he made his big league debut with the Twins last year and posted a 4.44 ERA in 24 1/3 innings of work, that didn’t help him with his control as he walked 15.2% of batters faced in Triple-A last year. Those struggles led the Twins to designate him for assignment this past winter, though he re-upped with Minnesota on that aforementioned minor league pact and returned to Triple-A with the club to start the season.

Balazovic’s results have once again left something to be desired as he’s posted a 5.60 ERA in 35 1/3 innings of work this season. Those numbers hide the fact that Balazovic has looked greatly improved in terms of underlying performance, however. He’s struck out 30.1% of batters faced this year, the first time he’s punched out 30% of more of his opponents in half a decade. He’s paired that with an elevated but manageable 9.2% walk rate, and he’s even posted an impressive 56.2% groundball rate. That’s left him with strong peripherals, including a 3.21 FIP and 3.18 xFIP, but his results have been skewed by an elevated .368 BABIP allowed and a shockingly low 58.2% strand rate.

Doosan has clearly looked past Balazovic’s shaky results and is hoping that those strong peripherals in Triple-A this year can translate to success overseas. The right-hander now figures to head to Korea in hopes of finding success there and, perhaps, eventually establishing himself enough to get another crack at the big leagues at some point in the future. KBO teams are only allowed to carry a maximum of two foreign-born pitchers on their rosters, and to make room for Balazovic on the roster Yoo notes that the club parted ways with right-hander Raul Alcantara. Alcantara, 31, pitched for the A’s in the majors in 2016 and ’17 and posted a 4.76 ERA in 12 starts with Doosan this year.

KBO Infielder Hyeseong Kim Hires CAA Ahead Of Expected Posting For MLB Teams

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Infielder Hyeseong Kim, who stars for the Korea Baseball Organization’s Kiwoom Heroes, has hired CAA Baseball to represent him ahead of his expected move to Major League Baseball in the upcoming offseason, reports Jeeho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. (Kim’s name is commonly written as Kim Hye-Seong or Hye-Seong Kim, but Yoo further notes via X that CAA specifically informed him the infielder will go by Hyeseong Kim if he indeed moves to North American ball.)

Kim, who’ll turn 26 next January, is old enough and has enough experience in a major foreign league to be considered a “professional” under Major League Baseball’s international standards. He’ll be exempt from international amateur free-agent bonus pools and thus able to sign a major league contract for any length and dollar amount with an interested team.

The former double-play partner of current Padres infielder Ha-Seong Kim, the younger Kim is  a lifetime .301/.361/.398 hitter in 876 games with the KBO’s Heroes. One of the primary knocks on his MLB outlook throughout his pro career has been a lack of power, but he’s begun to change that narrative in his age-25 campaign. The lefty-swinging Kim has appeared in 50 games and taken 224 plate appearances this year but has already set a new career-high with eight home runs. (He’d previously hit seven homers in two different seasons, including 2023.) Overall, Kim is slashing .309/.366/.471 this season — his fourth consecutive season with a .300 or better average.

Kim has also picked up seven doubles and a triple this season in addition to going 15-for-16 in stolen bases. The 6.7% walk rate Kim has posted so far in 2024 is a career-low — perhaps a sign of a more aggressive approach as he tries to showcase for MLB teams, speculatively speaking — but his minuscule 9.8% strikeout rate is also the lowest of his career. Kim has dropped his strikeout rate in every season of his pro career, beginning with a 25.2% mark back in 2018. He’s now seen as a hitter with plus contact skills, well above-average speed — he’s 195-for-226 (86.3%) in career stolen base attempts — and a strong glove in the middle infield.

Prior to the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser ranked Kim ninth among the top-ten MLB prospects for fans to track (landing behind current big leaguers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jung Hoo Lee and Yariel Rodriguez). Glaser called Kim a plus defender at second base (and a capable defender at short) with a “preternatural feel for contact,” good pitch recognition and the ability to catch up to good velocity. At the very least, he could profile as a utilityman with high-end speed and contact skills, though it should come as little surprise if there are clubs who view him as a potential regular at second base. Given his age, Kim should find big league interest — particularly if he can continue his newfound power output.

CAA most famously represents Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani but is also one of the industry’s largest firms, representing dozens of clients, including high-profile names like Willy Adames, Sandy Alcantara, Corbin Carroll, Jack Flaherty, Max Fried, Lucas Giolito, Jon Gray, Josh Hader, J.T. Realmuto and Trea Turner — among many others (as can be seen in MLBTR’s Agency Database).

KBO’s Hanwha Eagles Sign Jaime Barria, Release Felix Pena

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May 28: The Guardians announced that Barria’s contract has officially been sold to the Eagles. Hanwha announced over the weekend that they’ve released former MLB righty Felix Pena (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). KBO teams are limited to carrying two foreign-born pitchers on their rosters, so the Eagles had to move on from either Pena or Ricardo Sanchez to add Barria. Cutting Pena was the straightforward call, as he has struggled to a 6.27 ERA over nine starts. (Sanchez has a solid 3.35 mark in his nine appearances). Pena spent parts of three seasons with Hanwha, posting a sub-4.00 mark between 2022-23 before this year’s struggles.

May 25: Right-hander Jaime Barria is finalizing a deal with a team in the Korea Baseball Organization, according to MLBTR’s Steve Adams. It’s not yet clear which club Barria is working out a deal with. Barria is currently in the Guardians organization on a minor league deal but it’s common for teams to release players in order to pursue overseas opportunities, often in exchange for cash considerations from the player’s new club. Kim Geun-han of MK Sports (Korean language link) reports today that Barria is poised to sign with the Hanwha Eagles.

Barria, 27, signed with the Angels as an international free agent out of Panama and made his big league debut with the club back in 2018 during his age-21 season. The righty enjoyed a strong rookie campaign with a 3.41 ERA and 4.58 FIP across 26 starts for the Halos that year, although he suffered a sophomore slump the following season as he pitched to a 6.42 ERA in 19 appearances (13 starts) while swinging between the bullpen and rotation during the 2019 campaign. Barria would stay in that swing role for the next two seasons, pitching to roughly average results (106 ERA+) across 89 innings of work during that time.

The 2022 season saw Barria pitch in something closer to a pure relief role, with just one start and five outings where he threw more than fifty pitches. It was perhaps the best season of his career, as he posted an excellent 2.61 ERA that was 54% better than league average by measure of ERA+ to go along with a 4.11 xERA and 4.13 SIERA, all of which were career best figures for the righty. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse for Barria last year as his home run rate spiked, leaving him with a 5.68 ERA and 6.07 FIP in 82 1/3 innings of work across 34 appearances, six of which were starts.

After that difficult 2023 campaign, Barria was outrighted off the Angels roster and elected free agency, leading him to his aforementioned minor league pact with the Guardians. He’s remained in multi-inning relief during his time at Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate in Columbus, and while his 4.81 ERA in 13 appearances is nothing to write home about he’s also shown a surprising proclivity for strikeouts this year, punching out batters at a 28.1% clip across his 24 1/3 innings of work.

It’s possible that uptick in strikeout rate is what caught the attention of a team overseas, and Barria now figures to head to Korea in hopes of re-establishing himself as a potential big league option. KBO teams are only allowed to carry a maximum of two foreign-born pitchers on their rosters, meaning that if Barria’s new team has already reached that limit they’ll have to part ways with another arm to make room for the righty.

Tigers Release Drew Anderson To Sign With KBO’s SSG Landers

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The Tigers have agreed to release right-hander Drew Anderson to sign with the SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization. The Landers send cash to the Tigers in return. According to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News (X link), Anderson will make a $570K salary.

Anderson, 30, was in the Detroit organization after signing an offseason minor league deal. He’d been pitching in long relief at Triple-A Toledo, tossing 14 innings across nine appearances. Anderson punched out 16 hitters with a 3.86 ERA in a solid stint that caught the attention of the Landers. He would have had a tough time securing a spot in a Detroit bullpen that has been one of the game’s best, so the Tigers were content to let him pursue the KBO job.

This will be Anderson’s first stint in Korea. He pitched in Japan with the Hiroshima Carp between 2022-23, working to a cumulative 3.05 ERA over 115 innings. Anderson last appeared in the big leagues in 2021, throwing a career-high 22 innings with a 3.27 ERA for the Rangers. The former third-round draftee has also had brief stints with the Phillies and White Sox and played in parts of five MLB campaigns overall.

In a corresponding move, the Landers released right-hander Robert Dugger. KBO teams are only allowed to carry two foreign-born pitchers on their roster. Signing Anderson meant they had to move on from either Roenis Elías or Dugger. While Elías has a pedestrian 4.63 ERA over four starts, Dugger had a very rough showing. The right-hander was rocked for a 12.71 ERA in his six KBO appearances.

A former 18th-round pick of the Mariners, Dugger pitched to a 7.17 ERA with four MLB teams between 2019-22. He spent all of last season in Triple-A with the Rangers, where he posted a 4.31 ERA over 29 starts in an extremely hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League setting.

Hyun Jin Ryu Signs Eight-Year Deal With KBO’s Hanwha Eagles

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Hyun Jin Ryu is headed back to South Korea. The KBO’s Hanwha Eagles announced the signing of Ryu to an eight-year deal worth 17 billion won (equivalent to just over $12.4MM). The contract also contains an opt-out provision at an unspecified date. Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News relayed the details (on X). A Korean-language report from X Sports first reported the 17 billion won guarantee. It’s the largest contract in KBO history.

Ryu debuted with the Eagles in 2006 at age 19. He won the league’s MVP award as a rookie thanks to a 2.23 ERA through 201 2/3 innings. The southpaw turned in a 2.80 ERA in 190 appearances over a seven-year run with the Eagles. After the 2012 season, Hanwha announced they’d make Ryu available to major league teams through the posting system.

Under the MLB-KBO posting rules in effect at the time, teams placed blind bids for the right to exclusive negotiation with the player. The Dodgers bid upwards of $25MM to win that auction. That opened a 30-day window for them to sign Ryu. The sides eventually came to a six-year, $36MM guarantee with various performance bonuses.

It turned out to be an excellent investment. Ryu pitched to an even 3.00 ERA over 30 starts in his debut campaign, finishing fourth in NL Rookie of the Year balloting. He turned in a 3.38 mark during his sophomore season before losing almost all of 2015-16 to shoulder and elbow problems. Ryu spent time on the injured list with various lower-body concerns between 2017-18 but remained effective when healthy. He finished his Dodger tenure with a flourish, turning in 182 2/3 innings with an MLB-best 2.32 ERA in 2019. He secured an All-Star nod and a runner-up finish to Jacob deGrom in NL Cy Young balloting.

That stellar year couldn’t have been timed any better. Ryu returned to free agency that winter, this time with all 30 teams eligible to put in offers. He signed a four-year, $80MM pact with the Blue Jays going into 2020. Through two seasons, it looked like a strong move. Ryu turned in a 2.69 ERA over 12 starts during the abbreviated schedule, finishing third in Cy Young balloting. He wasn’t as dominant the following season but managed a reasonable 4.37 ERA while starting a career-high 31 games.

Ryu’s final two seasons were impacted by injury. He battled forearm issues early in the ’22 campaign. An attempt to pitch through the injury was unsuccessful and he required Tommy John surgery in June. That kept him off an MLB mound well into the 2023 season.

The Jays reinstated Ryu on August 1. He managed 11 starts in the final two months, working to a 3.46 ERA. That’s solid production but wasn’t without some worrisome indicators. His fastball velocity sat at a personal-low 88.6 MPH. He struck out just 17% of opposing hitters and allowed 1.56 home runs per nine innings. The Jays deployed him in a very sheltered role. Skipper John Schneider called on Ryu to work beyond five innings just once. He only faced an opposing hitter for a third time in an appearance on 33 occasions.

That all worked against Ryu as he returned to the open market for what’ll be his age-37 season. At the beginning of the offseason, he said it was his preference to remain in MLB. It’s very likely that Ryu could’ve gotten a big league contract offer — the Mets and Padres reportedly showed interest — but it’s possible the market from major league teams wasn’t as robust as he’d anticipated.

Whatever the rationale, Ryu is returning to his home country. He’d spoken before about wanting to pitch for the Eagles between the end of his time in MLB and his overall playing career. He’ll do just that on a record-setting contract that runs through his age-44 season.

This almost certainly marks the end of Ryu’s time in the major leagues. He has had an excellent MLB career, allowing 3.27 earned runs per nine in 186 appearances. He tossed 1055 1/3 innings, struck out 934 batters, and collected 78 wins. A two-time Cy Young finalist, he also received down-ballot MVP votes in 2019 and ’20. Ryu made nine playoff starts over five separate seasons, working to a 4.54 ERA in 41 2/3 frames.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Cardinals Release James Naile To Pursue KBO Opportunity

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The Cardinals announced they’ve transferred the contract of right-hander James Naile to the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization. The move clears a spot on the 40-man roster, which now sits at 39.

This transaction is made with Naile’s consent. He’ll lock in a $550K guarantee — taking the form of a $200K signing bonus and a $350K salary — with an additional $150K available in incentives, reports Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News (on X). The Kia Tigers are also paying the Cardinals a $250K release fee.

It’s a beneficial transaction for all involved. Naile, who turns 31 next month, secures the strongest contract of his career to date. Selected by the A’s in the 20th round of the 2015 draft, the 6’4″ hurler spent seven years in the Oakland farm system. He never got a big league call and landed with the Cards in minor league free agency over the 2021-22 offseason.

That resulted in a long-awaited MLB look for the UAB product. Naile was called up for seven relief outings in 2022. St. Louis ran him through outright waivers last offseason, keeping him in the organization in a non-roster capacity. They reselected his contract in early May and bounced him on and off the MLB roster throughout the summer. Naile made 10 more big league appearances but surrendered 19 runs in 15 1/3 innings.

With a 7.40 ERA in 24 1/3 career MLB frames, Naile wasn’t a lock to hold his spot on the 40-man into next season. Even if he kept his position on the 40-man, he might’ve spent most of next year on optional assignment to Triple-A Memphis. Spending the majority or entirety of the season in the minors would’ve been less profitable than the guarantee he inked to jump to the KBO.

In addition to the final security, Naile will likely get a rotation look in Korea. He has pitched in relief for the past four years but worked out of the rotation up through 2019. He pitched in a multi-inning bullpen capacity a season ago, logging 59 frames over 31 Triple-A appearances. Naile posted strong numbers in the minors, turning in a 3.66 ERA while striking out over 26% of batters faced. He kept the ball on the ground at a robust 53.2% clip, a trait he’s shown throughout his minor league career.

KBO teams are allowed to carry two foreign-born pitchers on their roster. They tend to use those players out of the rotation as a result. Naile joins former Pirate Wil Crowe as the Tigers foreign pitchers. Outfielder Socrates Brito is their position player. They’ll add a player with an impressive Triple-A résumé, while the Cardinals receive some cash for someone they might’ve placed on waivers eventually anyway. If Naile pitches well as a starter in the KBO, he could elevate his stock for major league clubs an offseason or two from now.

KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes Plan To Post Infielder Hye Seong Kim For MLB Teams Next Offseason

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For the second time in five years, the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization will post an infielder for MLB clubs. The Heroes announced this week that they’ll post second baseman/shortstop Hye Seong Kim for big league clubs following the 2024 campaign (English-language link via Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency).

Kim (no relation to former Heroes infielder Ha-Seong Kim, who was his double-play partner in the KBO) will be 25 years old and have seven seasons of pro experience in the KBO, thus exempting him from amateur status under MLB’s international free agency rules. He’ll be able to sign a Major League contract of any length with any team, though he’ll still fall under the purview of the MLB/KBO posting system — meaning any team to sign him will need to pay a posting/release fee to the Heroes.

Kim doesn’t possess the power that many prominent KBO free agents have been able to market when seeking to jump to the Majors. However, he’s batted .300 or better in each of the past three seasons while continually whittling down his strikeout rate and improving his walk rate. Over the past three years, Kim is a .319/.380/.405 hitter — including a .335/.396/.446 slash in 2023. He’s connected on just 14 homers since 2021 but also touts 67 doubles, 16 triples and a hefty 105 steals in 119 tries (88.3% success rate). Kim walked at a 7% clip with a 25.2% strikeout rate as a rookie in 2018, but he walked at a 9.2% rate with just a 12.4% strikeout rate in 2023. That marked his third straight year with a strikeout rate of 15% or lower.

Prior to the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Kyle Glaser of Baseball America ranked Kim ninth among international prospects to watch in that year’s tournament. Glaser called Kim a plus defender at second who can handle shortstop on occasion, adding that he has strong pitch recognition skills, a “preternatural feel for contact” and an ability to catch up to good velocity. Kim has a Gold Glove at shortstop and two at second base. As one might expect for a player with Kim’s minimal home run totals, BA’s scouting report paints him as a line-drive hitter with a knack for finding the barrel but a lack of over-the-fence power.

While the lack of power will limit Kim’s appeal in MLB free agency, he’s at the very least a high-contact left-handed bat who can handle multiple positions and deliver value on the bases. At 24 years old (25 later this month), it’s not out of the question that Kim develops a bit more power this season, though his swing doesn’t appear geared for substantial power (as seen in this 35-minute compilation of highlights from Kim at the plate this past season). He’s listed at 5’10” and 170 pounds, so Kim certainly doesn’t have a prototypical slugging frame.

There’s a ways to go before Kim is legitimately on MLB radars in free agency next winter; it stands to reason that with a major injury and/or down season at the plate, he might not test the free-agent waters at all. Still, Kim made clear that his ultimate goal is to secure an opportunity to test himself in MLB. “Just challenging myself to make it to such a big stage means a lot to me,” he told reporters (via Yoo).

Lack of power notwithstanding, Kim could draw interest as a speed/contact-oriented second baseman next winter. Glaser tabbed him as a potential big league utilityman. His age will surely hold appeal, and Kim will likely be an affordable alternative to MLB free agents like Gleyber Torres, Jose Altuve and, coincidentally, his own former teammate and double-play partner (Ha-Seong Kim), who’ll become a free agent next winter when the mutual option on his contract with the Padres is inevitably declined (likely by the player). As a potential, if not likely entrant into next winter’s free-agent class, Kim’s production will be worth keeping an eye on during the 2024 KBO campaign.

KBO’s NC Dinos Sign Matt Davidson

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Matt Davidson has signed with the NC Dinos of the KBO League, reports Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. The infielder will have a salary of $560K, plus a $140K signing bonus and $300K of incentives.

Davidson, 33 in March, has received scattered MLB action, appearing in six seasons over the 2013 to 2022 timeframe. He played in 311 big league games over that decade-long stretch, suiting up for the Diamondbacks, White Sox, Reds and Athletics. He struck out in 34.3% of his plate appearances but also launched 54 home runs. The combined result was a .220/.290/.430 batting line and 93 wRC+.

His Triple-A track record has been much stronger, as he has hit .253/.335/.479 at that level over eight separate seasons, hitting 163 home runs in 3,236 plate appearances. That likely helped him secure a job in Japan last year, as he joined the Hiroshima Carp of Nippon Professional Baseball for the 2023 season. He hit 19 home runs in his 381 plate appearances for that club but his overall line of .210/.273/.425 suggests it was a power-only performance. He struck out in 31.5% of his trips to the plate last year while walking just 5.8% of the time.

Despite the strikeouts, Davidson’s power bat is clearly a threat and it has intrigued the Dinos. This will complete the club’s foreign player allotment, as KBO clubs are limited to three such slots. They previously signed pitchers Daniel Castano and Kyle Hart.

KBO’s KIA Tigers Sign Wil Crowe

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The Korea Baseball Organization’s KIA Tigers announced last night that they’ve agreed to terms with right-hander Wil Crowe on a one-year deal worth $800K guaranteed with incentives that could take the deal to $1MM (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). Crowe spent the 2023 season with the Pirates but was outrighted off the club’s roster over the summer and released back in November.

Crowe, 29, was selected by the Nationals in the second round of the 2017 draft and made his debut with the club during the shortened 2020 campaign. The righty struggled during his cup of coffee in D.C. with a 11.88 ERA in 8 1/3 innings of work across three appearances. That would ultimately prove to be Crowe’s only appearances in a Nationals uniform, as the right-hander was shipped to Pittsburgh alongside fellow right-hander Eddy Yean on that offseason in a deal that netted the Nationals first baseman Josh Bell.

Upon joining the Pirates, Crowe was placed into the club’s rotation for the 2021 season. The assignment did not go well, as the right-hander posted a 5.48 ERA and 5.67 FIP in 116 2/3 innings of work across 26 appearances (25 starts). While he struck out a respectable 21.2% of batters faced in 2021, the right-hander struggled with his command and walked opposing hitters at a 10.9% clip. The struggles in the rotation prompted a shift to the bullpen in 2022, and Crowe found success in that role for much of the season.

Crowe posted a solid 3.12 ERA and 3.41 FIP in his first 51 appearances (66 1/3 frames) in 2022 as he strikeout and walk rates improved to 22.1% and 9.8%, respectively. Unfortunately, Crowe ran out of gas late in the year and struggled to a whopping 13.03 ERA over his final nine appearances, walking 11 and striking out just seven in 9 2/3 innings of work. The brutal finish to an otherwise solid season saw opposing hitters tee off against Crow to the tune of a .378/.500/.689 slash line as his ERA ballooned to 4.38 on the season. While he returned to the Pirates in 2023, the right-hander made just five appearances before being sidelined by shoulder discomfort and outrighted off the roster in July.

Going forward, the right-hander will get the opportunity to revitalize his career overseas. By joining the Tigers, Crowe will make more than the major league minimum while occupying one of three spots on the team the club can offer to foreign players. Outfielder Socrates Brito occupies another of those spots, while right-hander Thomas Pannone departed in favor of a minor league deal with the Cubs last month after spending the 2023 campaign with the Tigers overseas.

KBO’s Samsung Lions Sign Denyi Reyes

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The Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization have signed right-hander Denyi Reyes, per Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. The deal is for $800K, including $200K of incentives.

Reyes, 27, has been a fringy major leaguer for the past few years. He was able to toss 7 2/3 innings for the Orioles in 2022 and 19 2/3 innings for the Mets in 2023. He has a combined 6.26 earned run average in that small sample of 27 1/3 frames. He was outrighted by the Mets at the beginning of the offseason and elected free agency.

A few years ago, he was a notable starting pitching prospect with the Red Sox. In 2018, he tossed 155 2/3 innings in the minors with a 1.97 ERA, split between Single-A and High-A. In 2019, he moved up to Double-A and threw 151 1/3 innings. His ERA jumped to 4.16 but he was still just 22 years old at the time.

The pandemic wiped out the minor leagues in 2020 and Reyes’s results have been on the tepid side since then. As mentioned, his small sample of major league work hasn’t been amazing and he also has a 6.30 ERA at the Triple-A level.

The Lions and Reyes will be hoping that a change of scenery can get him back on track. He will also lock in a salary figure higher than if he stayed in North America, where he likely would have been limited to minor league deals. If things go well overseas, Reyes is young enough that he could perhaps return to North America in a year or two, a path taken by players like Erick Fedde, Josh Lindblom, Merrill Kelly and others.

KBO teams are allowed a maximum of three foreign players and this will be the Lions’ third, as they already signed infielder David MacKinnon and right-hander Connor Seabold. As pointed out by Yoo, this means the Lions won’t be re-signing David Buchanan, who has spent the past four years pitching for the Lions with a 3.02 ERA in that time.

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