As many of you know already, over these next few days I will be profiling some of the international free agents that figure to have an impact on the MLB in the next year or so. These guys are some of the best international players from all sorts of different places that are thinking about making the jump to Major League Baseball. Some of these guys you may have heard of, and others maybe not. There will be many different types of players that I will be looking at, but they all have one thing in common, they are the best of the rest throughout the world. On day two of these profiles I will be heading to Korea to give you an overview of Korean pitcher Suk-min Yoon.
Suk-min Yoon is a 27 year old pitcher who is spent last season with the Kia Tigers in the Korea Baseball Organization. Yoon has been a good, not great pitcher in the KBO the past few years and has spent his last 9 seasons with the Kia Tigers. He has a career ERA of 3.19 as well as a career K/9of 7.6 and a BB/9 of 2.8. Yoon was the owner of a 4.00 ERA in his 2013 season in which he was used mostly out of the bullpen over the second half of the year because of his team's needs. He also dealt with an arm injury over the year last year which could have led to his down numbers. Yoon has spent his career being moved around from starter to reliever to closer so not all these stats are pure starter stats, and years like last year have been common. Obviously, the stats aren't as good as one would expect from a pitcher in the KBO looking to make the jump overseas, but he does have a couple of things going for him. First of all, he's still young. At 27 years old he is one of the youngest pitchers on the market right now. His age really intrigues teams that don't really want to invest money into aging veterans. Another thing he has going for him is that he doesn't have to be posted from his Korean team, since he is a free agent in Korea right now as well. This means that teams will not have to pay an extra posting fee just to be able to negotiate with him, and teams have free reign to negotiate how they wish. He will also not require a draft pick to sign as an international free agent which helps his stock even more so. For teams looking to take gambles on pitchers, Yoon is possibly the biggest risk/reward guy left on the market. As far as type of pitcher goes, Yoon throws in the low 90s, but doesn't have overpowering stuff. His fastball is his main pitch with also having flashes of a decent slider. He also has a curveball and a change up in his arsenal but they aren't all that great of pitches. He will most likely have to be a control guy if he wants to find success in the majors.
There is a big discrepancy on what type of pitcher Yoon will become in the majors, and many teams have different ideas of him then others. Some teams believe that he can succeed as a starter in the majors and would look to develop him as one, but others place his ceiling as a closer or even a high end reliever, and these teams have a lot smaller idea of what his value is on the market. The most likely scenario is that a team who views him as a starter signs him as they would be willing to pay him more. If he is signed as a starter, the signing team will most likely also have to monitor his innings in his first year, as he has only thrown over 150 innings three times in his nine year career. He may also need some developmental time in the minors to get used to the American game, but shouldn't need much if he does need any at all. It is hard to get a great read on this guy but he seems to have a ceiling of a low end starter in the majors with a floor of a major league reliever. A young, possible major league starter is something that will without a doubt intrigue a few teams, and there should be interest from around the league. Something to keep in the back of your mind as well is that his agent is Scott Boras, so it will be really interesting to see how teams go about trying to sign Yoon and how much they value him. Look for him to sign a shorter deal with some money, but not a ton in order for him to build some value on the American stage. Then again with Scott Boras as his agent, anything could happen. We will just have to wait and see how his market develops.
Suk-min Yoon is a 27 year old pitcher who is spent last season with the Kia Tigers in the Korea Baseball Organization. Yoon has been a good, not great pitcher in the KBO the past few years and has spent his last 9 seasons with the Kia Tigers. He has a career ERA of 3.19 as well as a career K/9of 7.6 and a BB/9 of 2.8. Yoon was the owner of a 4.00 ERA in his 2013 season in which he was used mostly out of the bullpen over the second half of the year because of his team's needs. He also dealt with an arm injury over the year last year which could have led to his down numbers. Yoon has spent his career being moved around from starter to reliever to closer so not all these stats are pure starter stats, and years like last year have been common. Obviously, the stats aren't as good as one would expect from a pitcher in the KBO looking to make the jump overseas, but he does have a couple of things going for him. First of all, he's still young. At 27 years old he is one of the youngest pitchers on the market right now. His age really intrigues teams that don't really want to invest money into aging veterans. Another thing he has going for him is that he doesn't have to be posted from his Korean team, since he is a free agent in Korea right now as well. This means that teams will not have to pay an extra posting fee just to be able to negotiate with him, and teams have free reign to negotiate how they wish. He will also not require a draft pick to sign as an international free agent which helps his stock even more so. For teams looking to take gambles on pitchers, Yoon is possibly the biggest risk/reward guy left on the market. As far as type of pitcher goes, Yoon throws in the low 90s, but doesn't have overpowering stuff. His fastball is his main pitch with also having flashes of a decent slider. He also has a curveball and a change up in his arsenal but they aren't all that great of pitches. He will most likely have to be a control guy if he wants to find success in the majors.
There is a big discrepancy on what type of pitcher Yoon will become in the majors, and many teams have different ideas of him then others. Some teams believe that he can succeed as a starter in the majors and would look to develop him as one, but others place his ceiling as a closer or even a high end reliever, and these teams have a lot smaller idea of what his value is on the market. The most likely scenario is that a team who views him as a starter signs him as they would be willing to pay him more. If he is signed as a starter, the signing team will most likely also have to monitor his innings in his first year, as he has only thrown over 150 innings three times in his nine year career. He may also need some developmental time in the minors to get used to the American game, but shouldn't need much if he does need any at all. It is hard to get a great read on this guy but he seems to have a ceiling of a low end starter in the majors with a floor of a major league reliever. A young, possible major league starter is something that will without a doubt intrigue a few teams, and there should be interest from around the league. Something to keep in the back of your mind as well is that his agent is Scott Boras, so it will be really interesting to see how teams go about trying to sign Yoon and how much they value him. Look for him to sign a shorter deal with some money, but not a ton in order for him to build some value on the American stage. Then again with Scott Boras as his agent, anything could happen. We will just have to wait and see how his market develops.