Another KOB star who might be making his way to MLB is Kim Hyun-soo, a left fielder for the Doosan Bears, who might end up playing for the Oakland Athletics eventually.
The A’s are one of a number of teams looking hard at the 27 year old who has a career batting average of .318, has three gold glove awards and was a batting champion once. He has completed nine seasons in Korea, which means he is an unrestricted free agent.
He hit a .326 last season, including a career high 28 home runs with 121 RBIs, his second season with over 100 RBIs. He has hit .300 or better seven times in the last eight seasons, and his .979 OPS from last season was the second best of his career, trailing only his 2008 season, when he batted .357 and finished with a 1.037 OPS.
His age and the fact that he isn’t going to be costing too much makes him very enticing for the A’s, who are starting another rebuild phase which seems to happen quite often in Oakland. Kim is nicknamed the hitting machine in South Korea and has 142 career home runs in 1131 games. He won the Korean Series this year with Doosan Bears, his first championship and their first title since 2002.