Three very prominent baseball players have returned to the KBO from short stints as Major League Baseball players. Each of them are making their presence felt with their new KBO teams. This trio includes Byung-ho Park (Minnesota Twins), Jae-gyun Hwang (San Francisco Giants) and Hyun-soo Kim (Philadelphia Phillies / Baltimore Orioles).
This trio has given KBO fans something to cheer about since their return. The player with the best MLB stats was Hyun-soo Kim who batted .302 with 6 HRs in his first MLB season in 2016 with the Baltimore Orioles. Kim became the second highest paid free agent in KBO history this season just behind Dae-Ho Lee. So far in 2018, Kim is hitting .286 with 2 HRs and 7 RBIs.
Byung-ho Park who hit a mighty 12 HRs with the Twins last year was destined to not get much playing time in this season in Minnesota. Instead of sitting on the bench waiting for his free agent season in 2020, Park decided to come back to Korea to start for the Nexen Heroes where he is now batting .382 and 4 HRs and 11 RBIs through 10 games.
Jae-gyun Hwang left the San Francisco Giants to sign with the KBO’s KT Wiz. He was the first of the trio of former KBO stars to make a decision to return to Korea. He also was the one player with the least MLB experience playing in only 18 games and hitting .154. He signed a four year contract with 8.2 million dollars. He is currently batting .310 with 2 HRs through 10 games.
There’s nothing like home cooking (and regular playing time) to help KBO stars knock the cover off the ball.
True KBO fans must see a headline like ours today, “Former MLB players return home to Korea” and say a hearty, “Welcome home Byung-ho, Jae-gyun and Hyun-soo!”