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A large number of Korean players took their chance entering MLB this season. Some didn’t even make it past the bidding process, such as Ah-seop Son. Others have been given the opportunity to earn a spot on a 25-man roster, including Dae-ho Lee and Hyun-soo Kim. No Korean player has excited MLB fans more than the arrival of Byung-ho Park, though.
Park has been a monster in Korea at the plate, taking the KBO home run title and KBO RBI title from 2012-15, hitting over 50 home runs in each of his last two seasons. His batting line in 2015 was .343/.436/.714 with 146 RBIs in 140 games. With all of the power Park has shown, he might be even more well known for his insane bat flips.
A lot of questions have been brought up as to how stats from other leagues (such as the KBO, NPB and the Cuban National Series) will translate into MLB. With more and more international players becoming superstars in the U.S., front offices and scouts are finally starting to realize that other baseball leagues are not as far off from MLB as originally thought.
Cuba tends to get the most recognition, with Yasiel Puig, Yoenis Cespedes and Jose Abreu becoming superstars in their own right. Korea looks to be the new hot location that scouts have been flooding to, thanks in part to Jung-ho Kang’s first season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Minnesota Twins decided to take a chance on Park this offseason, posting a $12.85 million bid, eventually signing Park to a bargain of a deal at $12 million for four years.
That roughly $6.25 million a year is a steal even this year, let alone after Park settles into MLB pitching. Park was slow to start spring, but there was never any pressure to immediately perform. Park has been guaranteed the DH spot from the first day of signing, although they will use his KBO Gold Glover occasionally at first base. The Twins have already started the transition of Miguel Sano to the outfield to compensate for too many corner infielders.
Even after Park’s slow start, he has hit for a .283 average with three home runs and 13 RBIs in 46 at-bats this spring. He has struck out 12 times, but he is a bit of a swing-and-miss hitter, so that is to be expected. After all, he has had to deal with not only moving to another country with a new language, bu not facing any MLB pitchers before this spring.
Figuring out how Park’s numbers translate into MLB is tough to say, but Kang is a good example of what to expect. Kang hit .356 with 40 home runs and 106 strikeouts in 418 at-bats while playing in the KBO in 2014. He was hurt last season, but had roughly the same number of at-bats in 2015 as he did in 2014. In 421 at-bats, he had a .287 average with 15 home runs and 99 strikeouts in 2015.
In 2015, Park hit .343 with 53 home runs and 161 strikeouts in 528 at-bats playing in the KBO. One could imagine him hitting around 20-25 home runs with around a .275 average in his first MLB season, striking out quite a lot. With players like Sano, Joe Mauer and Brian Dozier in the Twins’ lineup, Park’s production should be more than enough to make up for his strikeout rate.
It will take some time for Park to adapt to the speed of the game in the U.S., but he seems to be well on his way. The Twins took a chance on a 29-year-old Korea star who had never played in MLB. I have a strong feeling that when 2016 is said and done, 29 other teams will wish they would have taken that same chance.
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