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S. Korean stars looking to win big league jobs at spring training

February 23, 2016

Clockwise from top left: Oh Seung-hwan of the St. Louis Cardinals, Lee Dae-ho of the Seattle Mariners, Park Byung-ho of the Minnesota Twins and Kim Hyun-soo of the Baltimore Orioles will try to win major league jobs for the first time this spring training. (Yonhap)

By Yoo Jee-ho

(Yonhap) — Four South Koreans with All-Star resumes in Asia will look to win their first Major League Baseball (MLB) jobs as spring training gets underway.

The 30 big league clubs have different reporting dates, with pitchers and catchers reporting a few days before position players. They will all have their first full workouts later this week.

It was a hectic offseason for South Korean stars who made their jumps from the domestic Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) or the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in Japan.

Former Nexen Heroes’ first baseman Park Byung-ho signed with the Minnesota Twins in December via posting. After he got the ball rolling, ex-Doosan Bears’ outfielder Kim Hyun-soo followed suit, joining the Baltimore Orioles as a free agent two days before Christmas.

Those two went from the top South Korean league to the majors. Reliever Oh Seung-hwan, a former KBO All-Star who’d pitched the previous two seasons in the NPB, signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in January. Then Lee Dae-ho, a hulking first baseman/designated hitter who’d spent the past four years in the NPB after 11 years in the KBO, joined the Seattle Mariners earlier this month on a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.

In between, two South Koreans were involved in relatively smaller transactions. Former Mariners’ prospect Choi Ji-man first signed with the Orioles and then was selected by the Los Angeles Angels in the Rule 5 Draft in December. One-time Tampa Bay prospect Lee Hak-ju signed a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants in November and has been invited to spring training.