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Kim Jae-Hwan

Quick Hits: Astros, Venable, Suter, Kim

By Mark Polishuk and Jeff Todd | January 30, 2020 at 8:20pm CDT

In the wake of the sign-stealing scandal that has enveloped the Astros and become perhaps the biggest story of the offseason, Astros fan Tony Adams decided to analyze the data from the 2017 season in perhaps the more straight-forward way possible — Adams listened for any loud banging sounds (i.e. someone hitting a trash can) during every opponents’ pitch thrown during Astros home games in 2017.  The whistling, clapping, and vocal signals the Astros allegedly also used to alert batters weren’t chronicled, as such sounds are harder to detect amidst the usual sounds of the ballpark.

After breaking down the 58 Houston home games that had available video, Adams made his work public at SignStealingScandal.com, with intriguing results.  The banging sounds were almost non-existent for the first two months of the season before spiking during a May 28 game against Baltimore (an 8-4 Astros win) and then staying at a noticeably high level for most of the remaining games over the following four months.  More data is available on a game-by-game basis, and on a player-by-player basis.

More from around the baseball world…

  • Will Venable interviewed for the Astros’ managerial vacancy earlier this month and for the Cubs’ and Giants’ jobs earlier this offseason, though he appears to be stepping out of the managerial race for the time being.  MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports that Venable will remain as the Cubs’ third base coach and thus won’t be a candidate to fill the sport’s last remaining managerial opening with the Red Sox.
  • After undergoing Tommy John surgery in mid-2018, Brent Suter returned to the Brewers in a relief role in September and looked tremendous, allowing just a single earned run in 18 1/3 innings (for a tiny 0.49 ERA).  While the Brewers generally like to be as flexible as possible with their pitchers’ assignments, GM David Stearns told reporters (including Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) that he thinks Suter will continue to work as a reliever in 2020.  “We’ll make sure Brent lengthens out so that he can cover multiple innings and accentuate his versatility.  It’s keeping someone in a role where they’ve demonstrated they can be successful,” Stearns said.  Suter pitched mostly as a reliever in his 2016 rookie season but started 32 of 42 appearances in 2017-18, though rarely pitching too deep into games.  A soft-contact specialist whose fastball averaged only 87.5mph last season, Suter provides quite a contrast paired alongside with Milwaukee’s other multi-inning relief ace, the hard-throwing strikeout machine Josh Hader.
  • Korean outfielder Jae-Hwan Kim did not draw sufficient interest from MLB teams this winter to make a move across the Pacific, but he’s determined to try again after the 2020 campaign, Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap News reports.  “If I do well this year, I’ll take another shot at the majors,” Kim said.  The outfielder had a monster run with the Doosan Bears from 2016-18, averaging nearly 40 homers per season and topping the 1.000 OPS plateau in all three years.  In 2019, however, Kim dropped back to a .283/.362/.434 slash and 15 dingers last year, which he said isn’t just a reflection of the suppressed KBO offensive environment.  Kim is hoping to iron out his swing in 2020 and turn in a convincing season before offering his services again to big league clubs.
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Chicago Cubs Houston Astros Milwaukee Brewers Brent Suter Kim Jae-Hwan Will Venable

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Jae-Hwan Kim To Return To KBO For 2020 Season

By Mark Polishuk | January 5, 2020 at 5:45pm CDT

Korean outfielder Jae-Hwan Kim’s posting deadline has come and gone without a contract with a Major League club, according to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News (Twitter link).  As such, Kim will return to the KBO League’s Doosan Bears for the 2020 season, and he isn’t eligible to be posted again until November.

After being officially posted on December 6, Kim had until 4pm CT today to work out a deal with an MLB team.  Kim’s agency tells Yoo that four Major League clubs had discussions about the outfielder’s services, though the Marlins were the only team publicly known to have interest in Kim, and even that interest may have waned after Corey Dickerson was signed.  It’s possible that clubs weren’t comfortable signing a player they knew relatively little about, as Yoo wrote in another piece earlier this week that “Kim came out of blue to enter the open market via posting, which left surprised major league scouts without detailed reports on the player that they could send to their clubs.”

It isn’t known if Kim will again attempt a jump to North American baseball after the 2020 season, when he’ll be 32 years old.  Regardless if Kim’s future focus is on the Bears or the big leagues, he’ll certainly look to improve on his 115 home runs and .283/.362/.434 slash line over 574 plate appearances last season.  While a respectable performance on paper, it represents a modest showing in the hitter-friendly KBO League, and a big step down from the 116 homers and 1.000+ OPS totals Kim posted from 2016-18.

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Uncategorized Kim Jae-Hwan

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Marlins Reportedly Interested In Kim Jae-Hwan

By Connor Byrne | January 1, 2020 at 7:14pm CDT

7:14pm: Craig Mish of FNTSY Sports Radio passes along different information, tweeting that the Marlins are no longer interested in Kim after signing Dickerson.

6:21 pm: The Marlins are showing interest in Korean outfielder Kim Jae-Hwan, Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News reports. Kim has until 4 p.m. CT on Jan. 5 to sign with a major league club after his Korea Baseball Organization club, the Doosan Bears, posted him Dec. 5.

The Marlins are the first reported MLB team to be eyeing the 31-year-old Kim, who debuted in the KBO in 2008 and was a force from 2016-18. During that three-year, 1,806-plate appearance span, Kim amassed 116 home runs with an OPS upward of 1.000, even winning league MVP honors in the last of those seasons. Kim’s numbers took a turn for the worse in 2019, though, as he batted .283/.362/.434 with 15 homers across 574 trips to the plate.

Should the Marlins land Kim, he’d be the second notable outfield addition for the club this winter, joining the just-signed Corey Dickerson. And it could help the Marlins’ cause in this case that they have Trey Hillman on their staff. The first base/infield coach managed against Kim in Korea for two years, as Yoo notes, so he’s quite familiar with his capabilities.

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Miami Marlins Kim Jae-Hwan

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KBO’s Doosan Bears Post Kim Jae-Hwan

By Connor Byrne | December 5, 2019 at 6:04pm CDT

TODAY: Kim’s negotiating period begins at 7am CT tomorrow, and ends at 4pm CT on January 5, as per Jee-Ho Yoo of Yonhap News.

YESTERDAY: The Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization have posted outfielder Kim Jae-Hwan, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. As the agreement between MLB and the KBO dictates, Kim will have a 30-day window to negotiate with all 30 MLB clubs once he’s officially posted. Should he sign with a big league club, the release fee the Bears would receive would depend on the value of his contract.

“I don’t know which teams will show interest in me or how I am going to be evaluated, but I am just thankful for this opportunity,” Kim said (via the Korea Herald). “Every baseball player dreams of reaching the majors. I’d like to thank the Bears for allowing me to take on this challenge.”

Kim was one of the most prolific sluggers in Korea from 2016-18, a span in which he amassed 116 home runs and posted an OPS above 1.000 in each season. While Kim won KBO MVP honors in 2018, last season made for a somewhat disappointing follow-up. Kim totaled 15 homers and batted .283/.362/.434 across 574 plate appearances in a league where offensive production fell in general. Nevertheless, he’ll try his hand at landing a major league deal this winter.

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Korea Baseball Organization Transactions Kim Jae-Hwan

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