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KBO’s Doosan Bears Sign Three Former Big Leaguers

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The Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization announced Thursday that they’ve signed a trio of former Major Leaguers (English language link via Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency). Right-hander Raul Alcantara, left-hander Brandon Waddell and outfielder Henry Ramos all signed one-year contracts for the 2024 campaign. Alcantara and Waddell are returning after pitching for the Bears in 2023 as well. They’ll be guaranteed $1.3MM and $1MM, respectively. Ramos, who spent the 2023 season with the Reds organization but played for the KBO’s KT Wiz in 2022, is entering his first season with the Bears and will be guaranteed $600K. All three players receive six-figure incentive packages that can boost their earnings as well: $200K for Alcantara, $130K for Waddell and $100K for Ramos.

The 31-year-old Alcantara has steadily raised his profile since heading overseas to sign with the KBO’s KT Wiz in 2019. This will be his sixth season in Asia; after spending the 2019 season with the Wiz and the 2020 season with the Bears, he spent the next two years with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Alcantara returned to the Bears for the 2023 season and will now embark on his third season with them and fourth overall in the KBO.

Although he was never a top-100 prospect, Alcantara at one point landed as highly as fourth among Oakland farmhands on Baseball America’s ranking of their system. The A’s had acquired him and Josh Reddick from the Red Sox as part of the package sending Andrew Bailey to Boston. In parts of two big league seasons, he logged a 7.19 ERA in 46 1/3 frames.

Alcantara has found new life overseas, winning the KBO’s Choi Dong Won Award (their Cy Young equivalent) with the Bears in 2020 and parlaying that into his two-year run in NPB. Overall, he’s posted a 3.04 ERA in 563 1/3 innings, working out of the rotation between the Wiz and the Bears. The Tigers used him primarily out of the bullpen in NPB, where he logged a 3.96 ERA in 96 1/3 frames. It’s not the typical arc, but Alcantara has carved out a lucrative career for himself pitching in Asia’s top leagues; this new contract figures to push his career earnings between NPB and the KBO north of $5MM.

Similarly, Waddell was never a top-tier pitching prospect but is a former fifth-rounder out of Virginia who was once considered a fairly promising arm in the Pirates’ system. The now-29-year-old southpaw pitched in parts of two MLB seasons with four clubs (Pirates, Twins, Orioles, Cardinals), allowing eight runs in 12 2/3 innings.

Waddell has spent the past two seasons pitching overseas between the Bears and the Rakuten Monkeys of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. In 18 starts for the Bears this past season, he posted a pristine 2.49 ERA with a 23.4% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate and 70.4% grounder rate. Overall, Waddell owns a 3.30 ERA in 70 CPBL innings and a 2.92 ERA in 169 2/3 innings of KBO action. Now entering a third year pitching professionally in Asia, Waddell has established himself as a seven-figure pitcher and ought to continue garnering opportunities overseas, so long as he stays healthy. At 29 years old, he’s also still young enough for a potential MLB comeback if he continues to thrive in South Korea.

As for Ramos, he’ll head back to Korea after a brief 2023 big league run in Cincinnati. The 31-year-old outfielder (32 in April) appeared in 23 games as a Red and slashed .243/.349/.311 in 86 plate appearances. Ramos is a .226/.312/.306 hitter in 141 trips to the plate as a big leaguer, but he’s mashed at a .301/.362/.485 clip in parts of six Triple-A seasons, adding 55 home runs, 93 doubles, 11 triples and 27 steals over the life of 1700 plate appearances.

Ramos would have been looking at a minor league deal had he remained in North American ball, but he’ll now have the opportunity for everyday at-bats in a league where he’ll earn just shy of the MLB minimum over a full season — while also potentially positioning himself for a raise in the future.

KBO’s NC Dinos Sign Kyle Hart

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Left-hander Kyle Hart signed with the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization, the team announced (h/t to  Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap News). He’ll be paid a $200K signing bonus and a $500K salary, while there’s another $200K in possible incentives.

Hart, a 6’5″ hurler from the University of Indiana, has four major league games to his name. Those came with the Red Sox in 2020. He struggled in that limited look, allowing 21 runs in 11 innings. While he hasn’t gotten back to the big leagues since, he signed successive minor league contracts with the Phillies and Mariners this past season.

The former 19th-round pick only pitched once for the Phils’ top farm team. He was a regular member of the rotation for Seattle’s Triple-A team after signing in June, however. Over 18 starts in the Pacific Coast League, Hart posted a 4.58 ERA through 88 1/3 innings. He struck out a reasonable 22.1% of opponents against a 9.1% walk rate.

This will be Hart’s first overseas stint. He joins former Marlins left-hander Daniel Castano as the club’s two foreign-born pitchers to open the season. They replace Erick Fedde (who signed a $15MM deal with the White Sox) and Tanner Tully. Yoo notes that the team is not retaining outfielder Jason Martin, so they’ll look for an additional hitter to meet their allotted three non-Korean players.

KBO’s KIA Tigers Re-Sign Socrates Brito

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The KIA Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization announced that outfielder Socrates Brito is returning for a third season with the team (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net).  Brito will receive $800K in guaranteed money in the form of a $500K salary and a $300K signing bonus, plus he can earn an additional $400K in contract incentives.

It’s easy to see why the Tigers were interested in a reunion, as Brito has hit .298/.349/.478 with 37 homers over his two seasons (1162 plate appearances) in South Korea.  The 31-year-old Brito has primarily been the club’s everyday center fielder, while also seeing some action in both corner outfield positions.

Formerly a prospect in the Diamondbacks’ farm system, Brito showed some signs of the dreaded “Quad-A” label, as his impressive .287/.339/.467 slash line over 1960 Triple-A plate appearances didn’t translate to the big leagues, albeit in a pretty limited sample size of MLB playing time — Brito hit only .179/.216/.309 over 218 PA with the D’Backs and Blue Jays from 2015-19.  Brito signed minor league deals with the Pirates and Yankees in 2020 and 2021 without any more time in the majors, and Brito also had to endure a personal tragedy in 2020 when his brother passed away from COVID-19.

There hasn’t been any public indication that Brito has received any looks from Major League teams during his tenure in the KBO League, or even that Brito has necessarily been on the lookout for a return to North American baseball.  There’s certainly still time for Brito to explore such possibilities in the future, but for now, he has carved a nice niche for himself with the Tigers.

Shin-Soo Choo To Retire After 2024 KBO Season

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Longtime big league veteran Shin-Soo Choo announced earlier this week (hat tip to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News) that 2024 will be his final season in pro baseball.  The 41-year-old Choo has played with the Korea Baseball Organization’s SSG Landers for the last three seasons, and he’ll spent one more year with the Landers before hanging up his cleats.  Choo is essentially playing for free in 2024, as he re-signed with the Landers for a KBO-minimum salary and will donate the sum to charity.

“I decided it was time for me to put a period on my baseball journey that started in 2001,” Choo said in a team statement to the Korea Times and other outlets.  “Since the 2024 season will be my last one, I want to show my gratitude to baseball fans, both at home and on the road, and give them long-lasting memories throughout the year.”

Choo hit .275/.377/.447 over 7157 plate appearances and 1652 games in the majors from 2005-20.  A “professional hitter” type, Choo delivered a very solid 123 wRC+ over his 16 MLB seasons, always showing a knack for getting on base even in his less-successful seasons at the plate.  Choo was also something of an underrated threat power-wise (218 home runs) and on the basepaths (157 steals in 212 chances), as he authored three 20-20 seasons during his big league career.

An international signing for the Mariners in 2000, Choo spent parts of his first two Major League campaigns in Seattle before being traded to Cleveland in July 2006.  It was a shrewd acquisition for the Indians, as Choo went on to become a lineup fixture over seven seasons with the Tribe.  However, as the team fell out of contention and Choo’s arbitration numbers began to increase, Cleveland dealt Choo to the Reds as part of a three-team, nine-player trade also involving the Diamondbacks in December 2012.

Choo’s lone season in Cincinnati was the best of his career, as he hit .285/.423/.462 with 21 homers and 20 stolen bases over 712 PA for a Reds team that reached the postseason.  This great platform year led to a big free agent payday for Choo in the form of a seven-year, $130MM deal with Texas.  Such a contract inevitably comes with high expectations, and unfortunately for both Choo and the Rangers, the deal didn’t really work out.

Between injuries and a declining glove, Choo’s value became entirely tied to his bat, and thus producing only good (111 wRC+) numbers in Texas wasn’t enough.  Choo ended up generating only 7.5 fWAR over the length of that seven-year deal, and it didn’t help that the franchise as a whole went into a rebuild period during Choo’s tenure.  After a pair of tough playoff losses to the Blue Jays in 2015-16, the Rangers didn’t post another winning record for the remaining four seasons of Choo’s deal.

After garnering only limited interest from big league teams during the 2020-21 offseason, Choo decided to head back to his native country and sign with the Landers (then known as the SK Wyverns).  Since Choo had signed with the Mariners as an amateur, he had never played in the KBO League prior to 2021, and his homecoming has been a successful one.  Choo has hit .259/.391/.427 over his three seasons with the Landers, and the team won the Korean Series in 2022.

KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes Sign Enmanuel De Jesus

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Left-hander Enmanuel De Jesus has signed on with the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization, according to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. Yoo indicates that the one-year pact between the sides is worth $800K.

De Jesus, 27 last week, signed with the Red Sox out of Venezuela back in 2014. De Jesus spent seven season with Boston working his way up the minor leagues, largely working out of the rotation despite eclipsing 70 innings of work in a season just twice during that time. From 2021 to 2023, De Jesus jumped between Triple-A affiliates with the Red Sox, Giants, and Marlins organizations, pitching to a 4.61 ERA with a 191 1/3 innings of work throughout the time. De Jesus ultimately got his first look in the big leagues as a September call up with Miami this past autumn. He drew two appearances with the Marlins during the stretch run but struggled in those trips to the mound, allowing eight runs on nine hits and four walks while striking out five and hitting three batters across 6 1/3 innings of work.

Despite his limited exposure at the upper levels of the minors and struggles in his two major league appearances, De Jesus has managed to secure a spot overseas, where he’ll be making more than the major league minimum next season. Clearly, the Heroes see something in De Jesus; as Yoo notes, KBO organizations can only sign three foreign players, with a maximum of two pitchers. For Kiwoom to commit one of those two slots to De Jesus, they were surely intrigued by his profile. De Jesus’s career has been marked with inconsistency as he’s switched between starting and relief roles and shuffled throughout multiple levels of the minors and organizations in recent years, but he posted some impressive peripherals in 101 2/3 innings of work with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate in 2022 as he paired a 25.2% strikeout rate with a 42.2% groundball rate.

While De Jesus has yet to establish himself in stateside ball, plenty of players have gone on to has successful careers overseas and even return to the majors later on in their career. Diamondbacks righty Merrill Kelly is perhaps the most successful pitcher to revitalize his career with a sojourn to Korea, though it’s possible that reigning KBO MVP Erick Fedde will join him after signing a two-year pact with the White Sox earlier this season. At just 27 years old, De Jesus is certainly young enough to return to the majors at some point should he successfully establish himself as a quality starter on the other side of the world.

KBO’s SSG Landers Re-Sign Roenis Elias, Guillermo Heredia

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The SSG Landers of the Korean Baseball Organization have re-signed left-hander Roenis Elias and outfielder Guillermo Heredia, per Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. The report goes on to note that Elias signed for a $1MM salary while Heredia signed for $1.5MM.

A veteran of seven MLB seasons, Elias began his career as a starting pitcher with the Mariners back in 2014. After missing much of the 2016 and ’17 seasons due to injury, Elias later transitioned to the bullpen. He found success in that role with both the Mariners and Nationals, pitching to a 3.30 ERA across 71 appearances from 2018-19. Unfortunately for Elias, Tommy John surgery in early 2021 would derail his newfound relief career somewhat. He pitched just 7 2/3 innings in the majors following his surgery.

Elias began starting again during the 2022-23 offseason, and initially signed on with the Cubs on a minor league deal that winter. After making four starts with the club at the Triple-A level, he was picked up by the Landers for the remainder of the 2023 campaign. He did fairly well in his return to starting, with a 3.70 ERA in 131 1/3 innings for SSG last season that placed him in the middle of the club’s rotation behind fellow former big leaguers Kwang Hyun Kim and Kirk McCarty. He figures to continue in that role with the Landers in 2024, his age-35 campaign.

Heredia joined the Mariners back in 2016 after defecting from Cuba and spent seven seasons in the majors as a fourth outfielder, slashing .231/.310/.346 while playing solid defense across all three outfield spots for the Rays, Pirates, Mets, and Braves as well as the Mariners. Heredia was non-tendered by the Braves following the 2022 campaign and signed with the Landers shortly thereafter. Heredia excelled in an everyday role with SSG this past season, slashing .324/.385/.461 while hitting 12 home runs, a career-best for him at any level of professional baseball. Heredia figures to continue in his role as the Landers’ everyday left field in 2024 while also seeing occasional time in center.

Victor Reyes Signs With KBO’s Lotte Giants

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8:38pm: According to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News, Reyes is set to make $950K in 2024. Yoo also notes that the Giants have re-signed former Twins left-hander Charlie Barnes to a one-year, $1.35MM contract. Barnes, 28, pitched 38 innings in the majors for Minnesota back in 2021 and posted a 3.28 ERA across 30 starts with Lotte this past season.

7:49pm: Former big league outfielder Victor Reyes has signed a deal with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The terms of the deal are not currently known.

Reyes, 29, signed with the Braves out of Venezuela back in 2012. After three seasons with Atlanta, Reyes was swapped to the Diamondbacks in 2015 before getting selected as the first pick of the Rule 5 draft in 2017 by the Tigers. He made his big league debut in 2018 with 100 appearances largely as a bench bate and late-inning defensive replacement, sticking on the roster long enough to become a permanent member of the Tigers organization. Though Reyes never secured a full time role in Detroit, the switch hitter performed fairly well in a fourth outfield role, slashing .274/.306/.398 (91 wRC+) from 2019-22 while playing strong outfield defense and going 24-for-32 on the basepaths.

Reyes became a minor league free agent following the 2022 season and eventually joined the White Sox on a minor league deal. He performed well across 128 games at the Triple-A level, slashing .279/.330/.462 across 546 trips to the plate while clubbing 50 extra base hits including 20 home runs. While Reyes ultimately never made it into a big league game with Chicago last season, the improved power potential he flashed in the minors has seemingly earned him attention overseas, leading to this deal with the Giants.

Stateside players who haven’t managed to stick in the big leagues often head overseas in hopes of making their way back to the big leagues later on while making more than they would be able to on a typical minor league contract. Eric Thames and Darin Ruf are among the hitters who revitalized their big league careers with a sojourn to Korea, and most recently right-hander Erick Fedde won the KBO’s MVP award this past season and subsequently earned himself a two-year, $15MM guarantee with the White Sox earlier this winter. Reyes will surely hope to follow in the footsteps of those players as he continues his professional career on the other side of the world.

David McKinnon Signs With KBO’s Samsung Lions

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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.

KBO’s KT Wiz Re-Sign Wes Benjamin

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Wes Benjamin re-signed with the KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization yesterday, the team announced (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). The left-hander will make $1.4MM.

Bejamin, 30, goes into his third season with the team. He initially joined the Wiz in May 2022. After posting a 2.70 ERA in 17 starts, he re-signed last offseason. Benjamin turned in a 3.54 ERA across 29 starts and 160 innings. He struck out 23% of opposing hitters against a 6.5% walk rate.

Prior to going to Korea, the former fifth-round pick pitched for the Rangers. He got into 21 games for Texas between 2020-21, allowing 6.80 earned runs per nine through 45 innings. Benjamin had signed a minor league deal with the White Sox for the ’22 campaign. He made seven starts for the Sox’s Triple-A affiliate before being granted his release to move to the KBO.

The Wiz also re-signed William Cuevas and brought back outfielder Mel Rojas Jr. last week. That trio takes their allotted three roster spots for foreign-born players to open the season.

KBO’s NC Dinos Sign Daniel Castano

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The NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization have signed former Marlins lefty Daniel Castano to a one-year contract, the team announced (English-language link via Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency). He’ll earn $650K in guaranteed money between his salary and signing bonus, and he can take home another $200K via incentives.

Castano, 29, came to the Marlins alongside future stars Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen (later flipped to Arizona for Jazz Chisholm Jr.) in the trade that sent Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis. He’s appeared in each of the past four seasons with Miami, logging a total of 88 2/3 innings. Along the way, the former 19th-round pick has posted a 4.47 earned run average with a 12.4% strikeout rate that’s roughly half the league average and a solid 7.9% walk rate.

Castano has appeared in parts of three Triple-A seasons with the Marlins and produced generally similar run-prevention numbers, albeit with a much better strikeout rate. In 174 innings with Miami’s top affiliate in Jacksonville, he’s logged a 4.24 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate. He’s expected to work as a starter with the Dinos, per general manager Sun-nam Lim.

The Marlins outrighted Castano off the 40-man roster in September, and he became a free agent following the season. He’d likely have been in line for a minor league deal were he to sign with an MLB organization, at which point he’d have earned at a prorated deal not far north of the MLB minimum for any time spent in the big leagues. The $650K guarantee alone should top what he might’ve made under that scenario, and the incentives give him further earning potential.

If things go well for Castano in the KBO, he could position himself to re-sign for a guarantee closer to seven figures next year, and with enough success he could draw interest from Japan’s NPB or even on a return to the big leagues. He only just turned 29 in September, so he’s still young enough to make his way back to North American ball in a few years, depending how he fares overseas.

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