3 athletes who ditched domestic popularity for
3 players who made it to the MLB on the world’s biggest stage
Improving their minor league lives
Good luck to them
[shaehdan: a gossipy story].
Recently, an increasing number of Korean baseball players have been trying their luck in the Major League Baseball (MLB) instead of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) league. Why are they heading to the US?
The standard of living in the minor leagues has improved significantly. The old adage “don’t go to the U.S. and eat bread with tears in it” no longer applies to aspiring players.
Korean baseball hopefuls who made it to the MLB, the “stage of dreams. Jang Hyun-seok (from left), Shim Jun-seok, and Choi Byung-yong. /Sports Chosun reporter Heo Sang-wook and Choi Byung-yong on Instagram
Jang Hyun-seok, this year’s ‘No. 1’ prospect, wants to challenge himself on the world’s biggest stage
Masan Yongmago’s right-handed pitcher Jang Hyun-seok (19), who is the only ‘amateur’ on the baseball team for the Hangzhou Asian Games in September, has chosen to pursue a career in the MLB. Jang is a special talent who was expected to be the No. 1 pick in this year’s rookie draft.
His management company, Rico Sports Agency, announced on the 9th of this month that “Jang Hyun-seok has signed a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a signing bonus of $900,000 (approximately KRW 1.198 billion).” Jang Hyun-seok had previously announced on the 1st that he would not apply for the Korean Baseball Organization’s rookie draft to be held in September and would challenge the American stage.
Jang Hyun-seok of the Masan Yongmago. /Jung Jae-geun, Sports Chosun
With a sturdy physique (190cm-90kg), he throws a fastball that reaches a maximum speed of 157km/h and is considered to have excellent command of his changeup, including curveballs and sliders. At the high school level this year, he went 3-0 with a 0.93 ERA and 52 strikeouts in nine games (29 innings). He has the potential to push his fastball to over 100 mph with proper training in the U.S. minor leagues. “I wanted to play on the world’s biggest stage, so I decided to try out for the major leagues (instead of the Korean Baseball Organization),” Jang said.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the MLB’s first team for Park Chan-ho, 50, the first Korean-American major leaguer, and Ryu Hyun-jin, 36, the “Korean Monster” who recently returned from injury with the Toronto Blue Jays. It will be interesting to see if Jang Hyun-seok can follow in their footsteps.
Last year’s No. 1 pick, Shim Jun-seok, “dreams of playing baseball in the U.S.”
Before Jang Hyun-seok, there was Shim Jun-seok.
After virtually reserving the No. 1 spot in last year’s rookie draft as an ultra-sophisticated pitcher who threw a fastball that reached nearly 157 kilometres per hour at the Cheongnyonggi High School Baseball Championship, Shim Jun-seok (19, Duksugo) defied expectations and chose to travel to the United States to challenge for the MLB stage.
This was in contrast to the fact that Kim Seo-hyun (No. 1 Hanwha), Yoon Young-chul (No. 2 KIA), and Shin Young-woo (No. 4 NC), who formed the “big four” of high school pitchers at the time, all remained in Korea.
Shim Jun-seok celebrates with open arms on the mound at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. /Pittsburgh Pirates Twitter
While the size of the contract ($750,000-approximately $990,000), as reported by local media, fell short of expectations, Shim was confident in his ambitions when he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates in January, saying, “It’s been my dream to play baseball in the United States since I was a kid, and I’m here to fulfil that dream.”
With an average fastball velocity of 94-96 mph (about 151-154 km/h) from his tall height (194 cm), Shim also has a changeup with a big drop. However, his weakness is his fastball. If he continues to work hard in the minor leagues, he is expected to develop a fastball that can reach 100 mph (161 km/h) or more in the future. Currently, Sim has appeared in two games in the Florida Complex League (FCL) at the rookie level, giving up one run in five and one-third innings with a 1.69 ERA.
Dreaming of MLB even if you don’t get picked in the KBO토스카지노
Choi Byung-yong, 21, a Shinil High School graduate who went undrafted in the 2021 KBO Rookie Draft, was called up by the San Diego Padres in the 20th round, 611th overall, of the MLB Draft on 11 May. Fourth from the back. It was a dramatic call-up. It was the first time a South Korean high school graduate had been drafted by an American college (New Mexico Military Institute, a two-year junior college).
Byung-yong Choi. /Byung-Yong Choi Instagram
After not being called up by a Korean professional baseball team in 2021, Choi was so discouraged that he wouldn’t leave his room for a while. But thanks to a friend’s father who spotted his talent and a baseball study abroad programme run by Nam Ji-hyun of the Korea Cross Baseball Federation, he made it to the United States and passed the first gateway to the “American Dream”.
Choi’s journey to the United States was made possible by CrossBaseball’s baseball study abroad programme. CrossBaseball is a consulting company specialising in studying baseball at American universities, founded by Nam, a non-baseball player, after leaving his job at a large corporation. Every year since 2018, Nam has brought American college coaches to Korea to host a “showcase” for high school baseball players who have not been drafted into the KBO.
However, during Choi’s time, he was unable to bring the coaches to Korea due to the coronavirus pandemic, so he had to replace the showcase with a video. As a result, coaches who were unable to check the players’ skills in person were reluctant to recruit them, and in the end, no one showed interest. So Nam reached out to coaches from other universities he hadn’t been in contact with before. One of those schools was New Mexico Military Institute, a two-year college that took a liking to Choi. After being recognised for his skills, Choi attended New Mexico Military Institute on a full scholarship.
There, he gritted his teeth and focused on baseball. “I literally hardened my heart and lived with baseball,” he told us. But when you don’t speak the language, it’s easy to become isolated and lazy. “When I first came (to the U.S.), it was hard to adjust because the language, culture, and food were all different,” he recalls.
But Choi admits that he didn’t always have the MLB in mind. After spending two years in the United States honing his skills, he returned to Korea and tried to re-enter the KBO draft. But in his second year, his hitting was so hot that MLB took an interest in him, and his name was called in dramatic fashion. He played in 58 games in the college league this year, batting .448 (201-for-90) with 15 home runs, 80 RBI, 71 runs scored, 45 walks, 10 stolen bases, and an OPS of 1.429.
“I think it’s natural for people to think I’m going to fail (at the MLB challenge),” he admitted, “but I don’t think so. I don’t think I’m going to be good enough. You never know in baseball. I’m going to show you the drama of the last place rebellion. I’m confident,” he said.
No more “soggy bread” in the minor leagues
For the second year in a row, high school superstars and players like Choi have opted for the MLB challenge over the Korean baseball scene, thanks to a significant improvement in the treatment of minor league players under the March 2023 MLB labour agreement.
High school and college graduates who have yet to prove themselves as professional athletes will have to work their way through the rigours of the minor leagues instead of jumping straight into the MLB ranks. The US minor leagues are organised from the lowest level, Rookie-Single-A-Double-A-Triple-A, which can be skipped. For example, you can go straight from Double-A to MLB.
It used to be that minor league life was often compared to “eating bread soaked in tears.” In fact, before the labour agreement, the average salary for a rookie player was only $4800 (about $633), with Single-A ($11,000), Double-A ($13,800), and Triple-A ($17,500) not much different. This is less than the minimum salary of 30 million won in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO). As a result, it was not uncommon for American minor leaguers to play “two jobs.
But after the labour agreement, rookie salaries skyrocketed to $19,800, $26,000 to $27,000 in Single-A, $32,250 in Double-A, and $35,800 in Triple-A. Starting in 2024, Double-A and Triple-A players will receive single-occupancy housing, and Rookie and Single-A players will be provided with stadium transportation and meals, which means they’ll be able to focus on their baseball, even with a down payment.
It’s also good to see that minor leaguers are breaking into the big leagues sooner and sooner. In the past, even if a player excelled in the minor leagues, it was usually more than four years before they saw MLB action. That’s a long time for a player. Now, however, players can expect to see action within three years of joining the team.
This means that even if a player fails after three years of trying his luck in his early 20s, he still has some time and money to come back to Korea and build a foothold.
If you don’t try, you have a 0% chance, and if you do, you have a 50% chance. We wish the best of luck to those who chose to ignore the immediate buzz and popularity in favour of their dreams.