Putting KBO Players in an MLB Context

One of the world’s strongest professional baseball leagues, the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) starts their 2020 on May 5, bringing us high-level baseball in a world that’s currently experiencing a shortage. If you haven’t watched a KBO game, it’s a different atmosphere than MLB, one I would love to see MLB take a few cues from. The fans are loud, the bat flips are fierce, and players have customized theme songs.

And thankfully, it’s looking like American fans will get to see more of it. The KBO and ESPN are apparently close to a broadcast deal to televise KBO games on this side of the Pacific. (A deal had previously been reported as close, but fell through when ESPN wanted to give KBO no money up-front.)

For fans, there are a lot of new names to know. But even without indepth knowledge of the KBO, some will be vaguely familiar already, as Korea is one of the frequent landing spots for Triple-A journeymen to get a real opportunity to play highly competitive baseball at considerably more enticing salaries. To acclimate ourselves to what the talent levels are like in KBO, I fired up the ZiPS supercomputer to get the 2019 MLB translations for KBO players. After all, many fans understand baseball relative to MLB. That’s not to suggest that the KBO shouldn’t be enjoyed on its own terms; many of its difference from MLB are what make it so engaging. Next week we’ll have ZiPS projected standings and player projections put in a KBO-context for the league’s Opening Day.

A quick note: I’m using the English naming order, since that’s what Korean players have used when coming to the United States. We’ll start with the hitters:

You may recall the KBO as an offense-forward league, with run-scoring that surpassed even MLB. Your recall is correct but not current; the league dejuiced the baseballs before the 2019 season. Somehow, the KBO was able to identify ball construction issues and fix their out-of-control offense, something MLB has somehow been unable or unwilling to do despite owning the company that makes the league’s baseballs. The KBO’s home run rate dropped 40% from 2018-2019, giving the league an offensive look closer to 1980s MLB than 2010s MLB.

At the top of the home run list stands Byung Ho Park, who you at least ought to recognize from his brief stint with the Minnesota Twins. Park only hit .191/.275/.409 for the Twins, though he did so with power, thumping 12 homers in 62 games for Minnesota. One can argue that the .230 BABIP had a lot to do with those numbers; bump them by 30 points and a .221/.305/.439 line isn’t all that different from his .227/.323/.457 translation. Park may have simply had the bad luck to come to MLB at the wrong time in history, when non-elite slugging first baseman on the wrong side of 30 are no longer being highly valued.

After Jeong Choi, a third baseman who was rumored to be interested in coming to the United States five or six years ago — nothing came of it — come a few familiar names. Jerry Sands and Jamie Romak both briefly played in the majors; Sands played a little more and is remembered chiefly for being part of the massive Carl Crawford/Josh Beckett trade. Mel Rojas Jr., the son of longtime reliever Mel Rojas, signed in Korea during the 2017 season. Darin Ruf was a fringe prospect who had little chance of pushing Ryan Howard aside in Philadelphia and whose glove didn’t support a corner outfield position.

Most of the other home run leaders are in their 30s and unlikely to draw a ton of MLB interest as a result, but in the middle of the chart, there’s a big exception: the Kiwoom Heroes’ Ha-Seong Kim. Kim has wanted to try his hand at MLB and his team has agreed to post him after the 2020 season. Unlike most of the league, Kim showed little decline following the ball’s dejuicing, improving his OPS from .832 to .890. He was a 20/20 player at age 20 in 2016 and he plays shortstop. Given his age and position, I expect a record contract for a KBO free agent next year.

Min-Woo Park never hit for much power, so he practically shrugged off the change to the baseball. Park profiles a bit like a larger Nick Madrigal, but in today’s (tomorrow’s?) MLB game, there’s a very thin margin of error for a player like that to succeed. A former Dodgers’ signing out of Cuba, José Miguel Fernández never found a position he could be counted on to play in the majors, but when counted on solely for his bat, fared very well in his first season in Korea, hitting .344/.409/.483 for the Doosan Bears.

After Fernández come the 2017 and 2018 KBO Rookie of the Year winners, Jung-hoo Lee and Baek-ho Kang. A two-way star as a prospect, there was some buzz that Kang, who has hit the mid-90s with his fastball, would play both sides in KBO, but the KT Wiz decided it was too risky. Debuting at 18, Jung-hoo Lee has hit .338/.397/.449 in his three seasons and can play a respectable centerfield. He doesn’t turn 22 until August, so he’s another name to look at long-term. Let’s turn our attention now to the pitchers:

Both MLB and NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) have long had an interest in top Korean players and this offseason was no exception. Kwang Hyun Kim signed a two-year, $11 million deal with the St. Louis Cardinals back in December. Josh Lindblom previously had a bit of success in MLB as a reliever; he returned to the US this winter on a three-year contract with the Brewers. Former Dodgers prospect Angel Sánchez signed with the Yomiuri Giants after allowing an absurdly low two homers in 165 innings pitched.

Hyeon-jong Yang has long been rumored to be coming to MLB, but the KIA Tigers rejected the winning bid when he was posted in 2014. As our old friend and FanGraphs alum Sung Min Kim (now with the Lotte Giants) reported, MLB teams were still checking in on him in 2017.

At the top of the K/9 lists stands Hyo-jun Ko, who unfortunately is best known for what was likely the worst wild pitch in professional baseball history.

Jae-Hoon Ha is someone deep-dive prospect watchers may remember from his stint as a Cubs prospect a decade ago. As an outfield prospect, his bat never got him past Triple-A and he struggled in a part-time role for the Yakult Swallows. Ha, still able to throw into the mid-90s, got a shot for the SK Wyverns after two years out of organized professional baseball (the KBO has a two-year probationary period for Korean players who never played with KBO). Ha ended up saving 36 games for the Wyverns in 2019 with an ERA of 1.98.