Yang Hyeon-jong hopes to join Minnesota; Kia rejects citing small posting money

Yang Hyeon-jong hopes to join Minnesota; Kia rejects citing small posting money. November. 24, 2014 05:38. .

An attempt by Kia Tigers pitcher Yang Hyeon-jong to move to the U.S. Major League has hit a snag for now. The 26-year-old clearly expressed his intention to join the Major League irrespective of the amount of posting money (closed competitive bidding), but Kia said, “We cannot accept this as the amount of posting money is too small.”

After holding dialogue with Yang on Sunday afternoon, an official at Kia said, “We cannot just think of Yang Hyeon-jong. We should also think of the fact this amount could be a yardstick when other Korean players move to the Major League in the future.”

Earlier on Sunday morning, a post on the Major League’s official Twitter account suggested that Minnesota had submitted the highest amount of posting money for Yang. It stopped short of disclosing the amount, however. Kia has not announced the amount of posting money either. With rumors widely circulating that the suggested amount for Yang is smaller than 2 million U.S. dollars that San Diego suggested for SK Wyverns pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun, 26, Kia plans to meet with Yang on Monday again. Kia should inform whether it accepts the posting or not by Friday.

Even as recently as two years ago when Ryun Hyun-jin, 27, joined the LA Dodgers for 25.74 million dollars, few predicted that Korean pitchers would be treated so poorly. What is the critical factor that differentiates Kim Kwang-hyun and Yang Hyeon-jong from Ryu?

The answer to this question is ball control. When reviewing a pitcher’s ball control, the Major League checks the ratio of strikeouts to walks he allows. This ratio demonstrates a pitcher’s overall capability to lead the game by effectively dealing with batters, as well as his capacity to precisely pitch the ball to the aimed target.

During the seven years while playing in the Korean pro baseball league, Ryu had the number of strikeouts (1,238), 3.23 times that of walks (383). Kim has posted this ratio only at 1.85, and Yang is even worse at 1.64 (748 strikeouts, 455 walks). Of 80 pitchers who met the inning standard in this year’s Major League, only two had this ratio at below 2. Samsung Lions pitcher Rick VandenHurk, 29, has this ratio at 3.41 for two years in the Korean league, but he recorded the ratio at 1.86 for six years in the Major League.

Citing Hanwha Eagles pitcher Andrew Albers, the best pitcher of the Minor League under Minnesota in 2013, the Minnesota-based daily Pioneer Press said, “Yang Hyeon-jong is a pitcher who can garner a strikeout by inducing the batter to swing and miss after pitching two strikes in Korea. However, it is uncertain whether he can display such capacity in the Major League as well.”