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Josh A. Smith

KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes Acquire Jake Brigham, Waive Josh A. Smith

By Steve Adams | April 15, 2021 at 8:22am CDT

The Korea Baseball Organization’s Kiwoom Heroes have made an early change in their rotation involving a pair of former big league pitchers. Per Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, the Heroes announced that they’ve reacquired righty Jake Brigham and waived right-hander Josh A. Smith.

Brigham had been pitching with the Wei Chuan Dragons Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. He’ll finish out the remainder of the month with the Dragons, per the report, then join the Heroes after a two-week quarantine period. It’s not clear what type of compensation the two clubs will exchange, but Brigham will be guaranteed $480K for the remainder of the season with another $50K available via incentives.

Now 33 years old, Brigham was a sixth-round pick by the Rangers back in 2006 and for a few years was considered to be among their top 30 prospects. He was traded to the Cubs in the deal that sent Geovany Soto to Texas back in 2012, and he bounced to several teams thereafter. Brigham appeared in a dozen games with the 2015 Braves but was hit hard, and that still stands as his only MLB experience to date.

Despite a lack of success in North American ball, Brigham has carved out quite a nice career pitching in Asia. A brief stint with Japan’s Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2016 didn’t bear much fruit, but he signed with the Heroes in 2017 and spent the next four seasons as a key piece of their rotation. From 2017-20, Brigham racked up 608  1/3 innings and pitched to a 3.70 ERA with a 19.7 percent strikeout rate and a tiny 6.3 percent walk rate.

Brigham was out to a very strong start in Taiwan this year, pitching to a 0.63 ERA with 15 strikeouts against three walks in 28 2/3 frames. That, it seems, was enough to convince the Heroes that he was past the elbow issues which plagued him during 2020 and prompted the team to move in another direction.

As for Smith, his time with the Heroes will prove quite limited. He made just two starts after signing a one-year deal that came with a $500K salary. Smith pitched just 10 innings and was tagged for seven runs on nine hits and five walks with nine strikeouts.

Smith, 33, has quite a bit more Major League experience than Brigham and was in the bigs as recently as last season, when he tossed 26 1/3 innings for the Marlins. He’s also spent time with the Reds, A’s and Red Sox, logging a collective 5.60 ERA (4.72 SIERA) with an 18 percent strikeout rate, a 9.7 percent walk rate and a 40.6 percent ground-ball rate through 184 2/3 innings at the MLB level.

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Korea Baseball Organization Transactions Jake Brigham Josh A. Smith

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Minor Transactions: 12/11/20

By Connor Byrne | December 11, 2020 at 9:05pm CDT

The latest minor moves from around the game…

  • The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization announced that they have signed right-hander Josh A. Smith, Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net relays. Smith will earn a $500K salary and could receive another $100K in incentives. The 33-year-old Smith spent last season in Miami, where he was teammates with fellow reliever Josh D. Smith, and struggled to a 6.84 ERA/4.67 FIP with 6.15 K/9 and 3.76 BB/9 in 26 1/3 innings. The Marlins outrighted him at the end of October. Smith has appeared in the majors with four different teams since his 2015 debut and logged a 5.60 ERA/5.27 FIP across 184 2/3 innings.
  • The Reds have signed lefty Jesse Biddle and righty R.J. Alaniz to minor league contracts with invitations to big league camp, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com tweets. The club previously outrighted Biddle and non-tendered Alaniz. Biddle garnered extensive MLB experience with the Braves, Mariners and Rangers from 2018-19, but after offering subpar production in the second of those seasons, he had to settle for a minors pact with the Reds last winter. The 29-year-old did make it back to the majors in 2020, though he only made one appearance. Alaniz, also 29, made his big league debut in 2019, throwing 15 2/3 innings of 16-earned run ball between Seattle and Cincinnati. He didn’t return to the bigs last season.
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Cincinnati Reds Korea Baseball Organization Notes Transactions Jesse Biddle Josh A. Smith R.J. Alaniz

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