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Former Big Leaguers Playing Abroad: KBO Hitter Roundup

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It’s always fun to keep an eye on familiar players who’ve taken their talents across the pond. Now that the 2019 season is in the books, it seemed an opportune time to check in. Numerous former big leaguers are playing abroad, many of them thriving in Asia’s top leagues.

We’ve seen foreign stints help spur big league revivals from quite a few players. Eric Thames, Miles Mikolas, and Chris Martin are among those that played significant roles in the 2019 MLB campaign. Whether any of the players covered below will do so remains to be seen, but there’s certainly a path.

Let’s start with the Korea Baseball Organization, the top league in South Korea. Remember, teams in the KBO and other leagues face limits on the number of non-native players they can employ. That creates a lot of pressure to secure big production from those roster spots, and often spurs mid-season change. (Statistics courtesy of the always excellent MyKBO.)

The top performers …

  • Former Phillies slugger Darin Ruf marauded the KBO once again, though he wasn’t quite as awesome this year (.911 OPS, 22 home runs) as he was in 2018 (1.024 OPS, 33 home runs). After scoring with Ruf, the Samsung Lions went after Mac Williamson in a mid-season move. But Williamson failed to gain traction in his forty contests, hitting a tepid .273/.329/.409.
  • Several other hitters joined Ruf as repeat KBO participants and star-level performers. Outfielder Jamie Romak has also now completed three excellent campaigns with the SK Wyverns. Like Ruf, he took a step back this year (1.001 OPS to .878 OPS), likely reflecting a KBO baseball de-juicing effort.
  • After a brief but promising showing in 2018, Jerry Sands rewarded the Kiwoom Heroes for bringing him back by swatting 28 dingers and batting a robust .305/.400/.543 on the year. Jared Hoying wasn’t quite as productive, but turned in a solid sophomore campaign with the Hanwha Eagles (.284/.343/.460).
  • The KT Wiz continued to benefit from their 2017 find of outfielder Mel Rojas Jr., who never got a big-league call-up from the Pirates or Braves. He slashed a robust .322/.384/.530 with 24 homers in his third KBO season.

Several KBO newcomers found something in their new organizations …

  • Jose Miguel Fernandez took a difficult path to the majors and did not receive a lengthy opportunity at the game’s highest level, but displayed his intriguing blend of hitting ability with the Doosan Bears. Appearing in all 144 contests, Fernandez poked 15 long balls and slashed a hefty .344/.413/.483.
  • The KIA Tigers dropped former Cardinals flash-in-the-pan outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker after just eleven contests. That may have been a quick leash, but they ended up making out well with Preston Tucker. The former MLB reserve outfielder ultimately slashed .311/.382/.479 with nine home runs.

Other KBO organizations are likely to go back to the drawing board after cycling through multiple players …

  • Another team changing horses in mid-stream was the LG Twins, who tired of former Phillies first bagger Tommy Joseph after he slashed .274/.335/.426 with nine long balls in 54 games. The club turned to another OBP-challenged slugger in the left-handed-hitting Carlos Peguero, who provided a bit more overall offense (.286/.333/.472) but no additional dingers (9) in his 57 appearances.
  • Former Padres infielder Carlos Asuaje struggled in 49 games with the Lotte Giants, slashing just .252/.358/.368. He was replaced by Jacob Wilson, a former Cards and Nats farmhand, but Wilson wasn’t much more effective (.251/.352/.433 with nine home runs). (Wilson and Rojas were the only two hitters to appear in the KBO this year without prior MLB experience.)
  • The NC Dinos opened the year with Christian Bethancourt behind the plate, but he didn’t do enough damage to hang onto his roster spot, with a .246/.311/.404 line in 53 games. That led to a mid-season change to former big league outfielder Jake Smolinski. Unfortunately, he managed only a .229/.301/.439 slash of his own.

Red Sox Sign Tommy Joseph To Minors Deal

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The Red Sox have signed former Phillies 1B Tommy Joseph to a minors pact, MLBTR has learned. Joseph, 28, was released by the LG Twins of the KBO in mid-July.

A former second-round pick of the Giants in 2009 who was shipped to Philly in the 2012 Hunter Pence trade, Joseph made 880 plate appearances for the Fightins in 2016-17, slashing .247/.297/.460 (96 wRC+) with 43 homers. His lack of plate discipline and defensive ability held him thereafter in the minors, though, and Joseph opted for a Korea stint after a solid Triple-A season in the Rangers organization last season. For LG, Joseph posted a .274/.332/.426 line in 217 plate appearances before his July release.

Joseph’ll head to Triple-A Pawtucket, where he’ll likely spend the rest of the minor league season. A September platoon with Mitch Moreland could be in the cards, especially if current partner Sam Travis continues to perform at his languid pace.

KBO’s LG Twins Sign Carlos Peguero, Place Tommy Joseph On Waivers

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The LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization have made a pair of moves involving former major leaguers, Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net reports. The club signed outfielder Carlos Peguero and placed first baseman Tommy Joseph on waivers.

Playing in Asia isn’t foreign to the 32-year-old Peguero, though he is new to Korean ball. Peguero spent 2016-18 with the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. Before that, he played parts of 2011-15 in the majors and struggled to a .194/.263/.384 line in a combined 319 plate appearances with the Mariners, Royals, Red Sox and Rangers.

Joseph’s also an ex-Ranger, having joined the team via waivers from the Phillies going into the 2018 season. Joseph ended up spending the entire season in the minors, though, which was unexpected after he was a regular for the Phillies over the previous two years. The right-handed slugger accumulated 880 trips to the plate during those seasons and piled up 43 home runs, but his overall production (.247/.297/.460 – good for a 97 wRC+) didn’t convince the Phillies to retain him, nor did it lead to a chance in Texas.

Unable to find another big league opportunity last offseason, the 27-year-old Joseph signed in Korea for $1MM. While Joseph looked like a candidate to rake in the hitter-friendly KBO, his OPS (.758) over 217 PA has fallen more than 100 points short of the league average (.866) for foreign players.

Tommy Joseph, Justin Haley Sign With KBO Teams

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Former Phillies first baseman Tommy Joseph has agreed to a one-year contract with the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports (via Twitter). The Jet Sports client will be guaranteed $1MM on the contract — the maximum amount for which a foreign player can sign for his first year in the KBO.

Meanwhile, former Twins and Red Sox right-hander Justin Haley has signed with the KBO’s Samsung Lions, the team announced via press release (hat tip: Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net, on Twitter). Haley’s deal will pay him a guaranteed $650K ($550K salary, $100K signing bonus) and provide him with the opportunity to earn an additional $250K via performance incentives. He’s represented by PSI Sports Management.

Joseph, 27, turned away interest from teams in Japan and Korea last offseason, telling NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury at the time that he didn’t want to forgo the opportunity to return to the big leagues in 2018. Circumstances have changed since that time, of course. Joseph was still on Philadelphia’s 40-man roster at that point, and while he was undoubtedly cognizant of the fact that he wasn’t likely to have a prominent role on a roster with both Carlos Santana and Rhys Hoskins, there was perhaps hope that he’d land with another organization.

That proved to be the case to an extent; the Phillies designated Joseph for assignment, and he was claimed by the Rangers in Spring Training. Texas, though, designated Joseph for assignment at the end of camp and outrighted him to the minors. The slugger spent most of the 2018 season with Texas’ Triple-A affiliate, where he raked at a .284/.353/.549 clip and mashed 21 homers in 357 plate appearances. He’ll head to South Korea with a career .247/.297/.460 batting line and 43 homers through 880 Major League plate appearances — all with the Phillies.

Haley, meanwhile, pitched in the Majors in both 2017 and 2018 — albeit in limited fashion. Minnesota selected Haley out of Boston’s system in the 2016 Rule 5 Draft, and he made hit MLB debut in 2017. However, Minnesota didn’t hang onto him for the full season, ultimately returning him to Boston that May. Haley had his contract selected by the Red Sox in 2018 and made four relief appearances, though he lost his roster spot back on Nov. 1. In 25 2/3 career innings at the Major League level, Haley has a 5.61 ERA and a 14-to-9 K/BB ratio. However, he’s been substantially better in Triple-A, where he’s compiled a career 3.53 ERA with 7.6 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 260 1/3 innings.

Both Joseph and Haley stand to earn considerably more money than they’d have made by signing a minor league contract and opening the season in Triple-A with a new organization. And, should either player cement himself as a quality contributor in the KBO, there’s certainly the opportunity to earn a raise in the KBO for the 2020 season as well. It’s not especially common to see players elevate their stock overseas and then return to find big league success, though Eric Thames and Miles Mikolas both stand out as recent examples of that route to multi-year free agent contracts.

Players Electing Free Agency

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Quite a few players will hit the open market this fall, and they’ll do so by way of varying mechanisms. The end of the regular season triggered a recent wave of free agents, consisting of a certain subset of players — namely, those who were outrighted from 40-man rosters during the season and accepted minor-league assignments at that time despite having the right to elect free agency. Players in that situation are entitled instead to hit the open market at season’s end, if they were not added back to the 40-man roster in the meantime.

As conveyed by Matt Eddy of Baseball America, who also covers quite a few other minor moves, these players have now elected free agency:

Athletics: RHP Raul Alcantara, LHP Danny Coulombe

Blue Jays: RHP Mike Hauschild, INF/OF Darnell Sweeney

Braves: LHP Rex Brothers, RHP Miguel Socolovich

Cardinals: LHP Tyler Lyons

Indians: RHP Evan Marshall, RHP Alexi Ogando

Mariners: RHP Christian Bergman, LHP Ross Detwiler, RHP Mike Morin, INF Zach Vincej

Marlins: OF JB Shuck

Mets: RHP Chris Beck, OF Bryce Brentz, RHP Scott Copeland, OF Matt den Dekker, INF Ty Kelly

Nationals: LHP Tommy Milone, OF Moises Sierra, RHP Carlos Torres

Orioles: RHP Jhan Marinez, INF Luis Sardinas

Padres: OF Matt Szczur

Phillies: INF Trevor Plouffe

Pirates: LHP Buddy Boshers, RHP Casey Sadler, RHP A.J. Schugel

Rangers: C Juan Centeno, LHP Anthony Gose, RHP Drew Hutchison, INF Tommy Joseph, RHP Chris Rowley

Rays: INF Brandon Snyder, RHP Ryan Weber

Reds: C Tim Federowicz, RHP Kevin Quackenbush

Tigers: INF Dixon Machado, RHP Jacob Turner

White Sox: RHP Tyler Danish

Rangers Select Contract Of Bartolo Colon; Tommy Joseph Accepts Outright Assignment

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The Rangers announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran right-hander Bartolo Colon and optioned fellow righty Nick Gardewine to Triple-A. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Colon, Texas moved righty Ricardo Rodriguez from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL. Additionally, Texas announced that Tommy Joseph has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Double-A Frisco.

Texas will turn to Colon, 44, to start tonight’s game in Oakland. The timeless veteran inked a minor league pact with the Rangers this offseason and delivered strong results in Spring Training, working to a 3.00 ERA with a 10-to-2 K/BB ratio in 18 innings of work. He’ll join Cole Hamels, Mike Minor, Doug Fister and Matt Moore in the Texas rotation as he looks to continue a career that, upon taking the hill tonight, will have spanned parts of 21 seasons.

Colon split the 2017 season between the Braves and the Twins, struggling badly in Atlanta before rebounding, to an extent, in Minnesota. “Big Sexy” turned in a 3.94 ERA and a 38-to-11 K/BB ratio through his first 10 starts with the Twins before fading and yielding 19 runs in his final 18 1/3 frames (over the life of five starts).

While the season, on the whole, wasn’t a good one for Colon, the popular righty is only a season removed from tossing 191 2/3 innings with a 3.43 ERA, 6.0 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 with the 2016 Mets. In fact, from 2013-16 with the A’s and Mets, Colon averaged 195 innings per season with a 3.59 ERA, twice making the All-Star team (2013 and 2016) and twice pacing his league in BB/9 (2015-16). He’s one of many veteran arms the Rangers bought low on in the offseason in hopes of catching some lightning in a bottle.

For Colon, the opportunity is not without significance. He’s spoken many times about what it would mean to him to tally another four wins and move into the all-time lead for wins by a Dominican-born pitcher, overtaking Hall of Famer Juan Marichal. Colon is also less than two months away from his 45th birthday, and if he can keep his remarkable career going to that point, he’ll fulfill a promise to his late mother in which he told her he’d pitch until age 45.

Joseph, meanwhile, has struggled to get on base in each of his two big league seasons and saw his overall offensive output decline in 2017. In total, he’s a .247/.297/.460 hitter in 880 PAs, but as an OBP-challenged slugger with significant defensive limitations, his appeal around the league was unsurprisingly somewhat limited. He’ll give Texas some depth at first base, though with Joey Gallo and Ronald Guzman ahead of him on the depth chart at first base and Shin-Soo Choo slated for regular DH work, it might take an injury or two to create a clearer opportunity for Joseph to return to the Majors.

Rangers Designate Tommy Joseph, Select Kevin Jepsen

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The Rangers announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran reliever Kevin Jepsen, who was in camp on a minor league contract. In a corresponding move, the Rangers designated first baseman Tommy Joseph for assignment. Texas claimed him off waivers from the Phillies last week. Additionally, Martin Perez, Tony Barnette and Tim Lincecum have been placed on the 10-day DL.

Once a top-ranked catching prospect, Joseph moved to first base due to concussion issues and broke into the Majors with a solid showing in 2016 (.257/.308/.505). However, Joseph has struggled to get on base in each of his two big league seasons and saw his overall offensive output decline in 2017. Overall, he’s a .247/.297/.460 hitter in 880 PAs, but as an OBP-challenged slugger with significant defensive limitations, he was squeezed out in Philadelphia and could have a tough time finding a regular role elsewhere.

The 33-year-old Jepsen didn’t pitch in the Majors last season after posting a dismal 5.98 ERA in 49 2/3 frames between the Twins and Rays in 2016. He spent last year with the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate but endured similar struggles, logging a 5.32 ERA in 23 2/3 innings of work. Jepsen has long shown the ability to miss bats, however, and was an effective closer for the Twins as recently as 2015. From 2012-15, he posted a 2.93 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 in 215 1/3 innings between the Angels, Rays and Twins.

Rangers Claim Tommy Joseph

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The Rangers have claimed first baseman Tommy Joseph off waivers from the Phillies, according to an announcement from Texas. In a corresponding move, the Rangers placed right-hander Clayton Blackburn on the 60-day disabled list with a strained pitching elbow.

Joseph, whom Philadelphia designated for assignment last week to make room for Jake Arrieta, lost his footing with the club after the emergence of Rhys Hoskins in 2017 and the signing of Carlos Santana during the offseason. There was simply no room on the Phillies’ roster for Joseph, a former catcher prospect who has become a first base/DH option in the majors.

The 26-year-old Joseph debuted with the Phillies in 2016 and was a solidly above-average hitter that year, with a .257/.308/.505 line (112 wRC+), 21 home runs and a .248 ISO in 347 plate appearances. Joseph went backward over a 533-PA sample size in 2017, though, as he slashed a subpar .240/.289/.432 (85 wRC+) with 22 HRs and a .192 ISO.

While Joseph was a regular in Philadelphia, that’s unlikely to be the case in Texas. With Joey Gallo occupying first and Shin-Soo Choo as the Rangers’ primary DH, there’s no obvious path to playing time for Joseph. He’ll either open the season on optional assignment or attempt to bounce back from last season as a bench bat.

Phillies Designate Tommy Joseph For Assignment

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The Phillies announced that they’ve designated first baseman Tommy Joseph for assignment. His removal from the 40-man roster creates a spot for right-hander Jake Arrieta, whose multi-year deal with the Phillies has now been formally announced by the team.

Joseph, 26, simply found himself without a clear path to playing time after the Phils elected to give big money to Carlos Santana earlier in the winter. Without a DH spot to hide an extra bat, Joseph was a marginal competitor for a bench spot in camp.

That’s not to say he won’t hold some appeal to other organizations, though. Joseph has shown plenty of pop in his first two years in the majors, putting the ball over the fence 43 times in 880 plate appearances. But he’ll certainly need to boost his .297 OBP if he’s going to hold down a big league job, particularly given his lack of defensive flexibility.

Things would surely look quite a bit different if Joseph was still catching. Once a top-tier prospect as a backstop, concussion problems forced him out from behind the plate. The fact that he was still able to reach the majors as a first baseman is testament both to his talent and effort.

NL East Notes: Joseph, Fedde, deGrom, Marlins

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Despite the fact that he’s left without a clear role on the Phillies, Tommy Joseph turned away “serious interest” from teams in Japan and Korea this offseason, reports Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Joseph consulted with his former teammate, Darin Ruf, who spent the 2017 season playing with the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization and raked at a .315/.396/.569 clip. Ruf recommended to Joseph that he should make the jump, but Joseph wasn’t ready to make that move just yet. “You never want to give up the opportunity to play in the major leagues,” said Joseph. “…I want a chance to be here and play in the big leagues.”

The Phillies signed Carlos Santana to a three-year, $60MM contract this offseason, pushing Rhys Hoskins to the outfield and rendering Joseph without an opportunity outside of a bench role. Phils skipper Gabe Kapler has been playing Joseph in the corner outfield this spring to enhance his versatility, but Joseph still faces an uphill battle when it comes to securing even semi-regular at-bats in a crowded first base/outfield mix with the Phils.

Here’s more out of the NL East…

  • Erick Fedde made his first appearance of the spring this week, taking the mound for the first time since suffering a flexor strain that ended his season last summer. MLB.com’s Jamal Collier spoke with the promising Nationals right-hander, stating that he felt no lingering effects in his previously problematic forearm. Collier notes, too, that Fedde’s velocity looks to be back to normal after dipping last summer before the right-hander was shelved for the remainder of the year. While the 25-year-old Fedde, a former first-round pick and longtime top prospect in the organization, comes with plenty of upside and hopes to break camp with the club, Collier notes that his remaining minor league options could make that difficult. Right-hander A.J. Cole is the current favorite for the fifth spot in the Nats’ rotation, perhaps in part due to the fact that he’s out of options.
  • Jacob deGrom’s availability for Opening Day is in question, writes Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. While the back stiffness that’s been hampering deGrom in the past few days isn’t believed to be serious, the Mets would prefer deGrom to make five starts to ramp up for the regular season. In order to make that schedule, he’d need to start a game by Sunday, and he’ll likely need to complete two bullpen sessions before he’s cleared to do so. The New York Post’s Mike Puma takes things a bit further, suggesting that deGrom may not be ready for the first week or so of the season (Twitter link). It’s understandable that the Mets would prefer to proceed with caution after the rampant injuries that ran through their pitching staff last season, though, and it doesn’t sound at present that deGrom is in danger of missing any significant time once the regular season rolls around.
  • Marlins CEO Derek Jeter was largely dismissive of the grievance filed by the MLBPA against his team (as well as the Rays, A’s and Pirates), per Barry Jackson, Clark Spencer and Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. “As we have done since the day we took over in October, we will continue to do everything we can to build a foundation for sustained success and improve this organization — which has not made the postseason since 2003 and has gone eight seasons without a winning record,” Jeter said in response to the grievance, which alleges that the four teams listed are not properly reallocating their revenue-sharing profits to improving their clubs.
  • Sticking with the Marlins, Craig Davis of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writes that non-roster invitee Scott Van Slyke has impressed manager Don Mattingly early in camp as he vies for a job. Mattingly, of course, knows Van Slyke well, having also managed him during his best years with the Dodgers. Van Slyke, Davis notes, changed his hitting mechanics this offseason at the behest of his father Andy — a two-time Silver Slugger winner and three-time big league All-Star. Of some note, Davis adds that Van Slyke’s minor league deal with the Fish does not contain an opt-out at the end of Spring Training, so even if he doesn’t make crack the 25-man roster, he could very well be ticketed for Triple-A New Orleans, where he’d serve as a depth option with a strong track record against left-handed pitching and experience in all three outfield slots.
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