Highest Korean pitcher fee since 2010… Park Chan-ho, Ryu Hyun-jin choose ‘national team’, Jang Hyun-seok unleashes ‘100-mile’ potential

카지노사이트 Money may not be everything, but it’s undeniably a big part of valuation. This is especially true in professional sports. Salaries and contracts are the most basic measures of a player’s value.

Another Korean big leaguer has been born. This year, Jang Hyun-seok (19, Masan Yongmago), the most valuable pitcher in high school, will wear the LA Dodgers uniform. Jang’s management company, Rico Sports, announced on the 9th that he signed a $900,000 contract with the Dodgers.

Jang’s $900,000 (approx. KRW 1.19 billion) contract is the highest for an amateur to sign with a major league club since Bae Ji-hwan (Pittsburgh) received a $1.25 million (approx. KRW 1.65 billion) contract in 2018. For a pitcher, it is the highest since Kim Jin-young’s $1.2 million contract with the Chicago Cubs in February 2010. Shim Jun-seok, who signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates last year, received a $750,000 signing bonus.

It’s no longer possible to just hand out contracts to overseas prospects. The $900,000 the Dodgers invested in Jang is a testament to their high hopes for him, given that they have to distribute the money within the International Amateur Prospect Bonus Pool. This year, the Dodgers’ international amateur bonus pool was $4.14 million, tied with the Texas Rangers for the lowest among Major League Baseball’s 30 clubs. In mid-January, the team signed 13 prospects on the first day of the international amateur signing period, including Yoendry Vargas ($2.08 million) and Arnaldo Lantigua ($700,000), nearly depleting its bonus pool.

However, the Dodgers sent pitchers Maximo Martinez and Aldrin Bautista to the Chicago White Sox ahead of this year’s trade deadline to create additional bonus pool space. This amount was used to fund Jang’s contract. The Dodgers were serious about Jang.

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Dodger Nation, which covers Dodger news, announced Jang’s signing, saying, “Jang is an incredible 19-year-old pitching prospect. He already throws 97 mph and has a fastball curve changeup slider sweeper,’ and ‘He was expected to be the No. 1 pick in the KBO draft, but he dreamed of challenging himself in America and the Dodgers gave him a chance. It will be a while before we see him in the big leagues, but the Dodgers will want to see him develop into a future star. Dodger fans are excited to see what Jang Hyun-seok can do in the major leagues.

Local fans began researching Jang Hyun-seok when rumours of his signing began to circulate. On local social media, they shared a video of Jang’s 14-strikeout performance in the quarterfinals of the Cheongnyonggi on 24 March. In an era where pitchers throwing 161 kilometres and 100 mph have become commonplace, a pitcher who throws 155 kilometres and 96-97 mph at the age of 19 is bound to attract attention and expectations wherever he is in the world.

The Dodgers are already familiar to Korean baseball fans through their long association with Park Chan-ho and Ryu Hyun-jin. They’ve also had other Korean players, including Choi Hee-seop and Seo Jae-heng, who have had brief stints. More recently, the team has brought in a promising youngster in Choi Hyun-il, who is still connecting with Korean fans. Even without Korean players, the team still has the status of a “national team”.

The Dodgers are particularly good at developing hard-throwing pitchers. From Walker Buehler, to Julio Urias, to Tony Gonsoli, and more recently Bobby Miller. They have developed hard-throwing right-handed pitchers and brought them to the big leagues early.

The ‘people’s club’ really cared about Jang Hyun-seok. The Dodgers’ sincerity and developmental philosophy, combined with Jang’s physicality and potential, could make watching a Korean 100-mph prospect no longer a pipe dream.