One of the Korean Baseball stars who might be on his way to MLB is Hyun-Soo Kim who has played his entire career for the Doosan Bears, already receiving an offer from the Baltimore Orioles and picking up interest from other teams, especially the San Diego Padres.
The Orioles have offered the 27-year old a two year deal worth around $3-4 million a season, and he’s eligible for free agency after nine seasons in the KBO. But he hasn’t signed anything with the Orioles, and while expectations were that he’ll sign a deal with team in the USA pretty quickly, there are those who think he might end up staying in South Korea and return to the Doosan Bears, where he has been starring since 2007.
The Padres may have also made him an offer although there’s no concrete information on that. He can play both left field and first base, but the three-time gold glove winner and former silver slugger usually plays in the outfield. He won a gold medal with the South Korean team in Beijing back in 2008, and was part of two World Baseball Classic rosters for South Korea, the last of which in 2013.
He has hit 142 home runs in his career with the KBO team, including a career high 28 last season, with 121 RBIs, as Doosan won the championship. He is a .318 career hitter, only twice going under .300 since 2007.