Foreigners' Fielding, Between Insurance and Adventure
Foreigners' Fielding, Between Insurance and Adventure
Blog Article
In professional baseball, foreign players occupy a large part of the team's strength. In a KBO league, which can house three players, two pitchers are the starting lineup's one-two punch, and the batter is assigned to the central lineup.먹튀검증
After the 2024 season, most teams seem not satisfied with the formation of foreign players. Not a single team has renewed all three foreign players' contracts. Only 13 out of 30 foreign players have accompanied their original teams in the 2025 season.
Having struggled not only with foreign pitchers but also with batters throughout the 2024 season, Doosan made a bold decision. Doosan recruited three new foreign players _ left-hander Col Irvin, right-hander Thomas Hatch, and outfielder Jake Cave.
Kiwoom made an unconventional move to form foreign players with two batters and one pitcher.
KIA, which achieved an integrated championship this season, re-signed James Nail, who had the No. 1 ERA, but chose to replace the other two.
Having acquired right-handed fastball pitcher Adam Oler for 1 million U.S. dollars, Kia is also breaking up with Socrates Brito, who played for three consecutive seasons starting from the 2022 season. It is close to recruiting Patrick Wisdom as a first baseman who has hit 20 home runs for three consecutive years.
The NC Dinosaurs also renewed their contracts with Matt Davidson, the home run champion, but made changes to the composition of other foreign players. After recruiting Riley Thompson, a right-hander who throws balls up to 159 kilometers per hour, the NC Dinosaurs recruited Logan Allen when their contracts with Kyle Hart failed to complete. Logan had 5 wins, 11 losses and an earned run average of 5.79 in 124.1 innings in 45 Major League games (15 starts).
Lotte chose to change for better performance.
Lotte quickly renewed its contract with Victor Reyes, who broke the record for the most hits in a season with left-hander Charlie Barnes, and brought in Tucker Davidson instead of Aaron Wilkerson, who posted 12 wins. He was a foreign pitcher who had the most wins in his team, but Lotte decided to replace Davidson after seeing the foreign player market and judging that he is a better pitcher.
LG also renewed its contract by giving 1.3 million dollars to right-hander Elijah Hernandez, who threw a bull pen battle in the postseason. It also signed a 1.7 million-dollar contract with Austin Dean, an infielder who received the Golden Glove, to accompany him next season. It also changed the composition of its one-two punch by recruiting new right-hander Yoni Chirinos.
While SSG also succeeded in staying right-hander Drew Anderson and outfielder Guillermo Herredia, it attracted attention by recruiting a new Korean pitcher, Mitch White.
Hanwha, which will open at its new stadium next year, has decided to accompany right-hander Ryan Weiss, who succeeded in making an official contract after joining the KBO League as a substitute this season. It has recruited Cody Ponce (US$1 million) as a pitcher to be paired with Weiss, and filled the batter with outfielder Esteban Floral (US$850,000). In particular, Floral was surprised by his successful acquisition in the competition with Japanese teams.
Samsung quickly re-signed pitcher Danny Reyes and batter Lewin Diaz. With attention on whether to accompany Connor Seabold, Furado, who played for Kiwoom, was brought in.
KT also re-signed right-hander William Cuevas for $1.5 million and outfielder Mel Rojas Jr. for $1.8 million, expressing unwavering trust and recruiting left-hander Heyesus from Kiwoom.