Potential KBO Trades to the MLB

By Marie Zae
Updated: October 31, 2020

The LA Dodgers have won the 2020 World Series. After a stop-and-go summer and fall with shortened season play, the MLB’s 2020 run has been exciting and unpredictable—baseball aside.

Now that the season has concluded with the Tampa Bay Rays returning to Florida and the Dodgers celebrating another championship title for the city of Los Angeles, baseball fans are looking forward to off-season trade rumors and other predictions that accompany a sport’s downtime.

In particular, potential trades between the US’s MLB and South Korea’s KBO have the attention of fans and pundits alike. Recently, the KBO agreed to move trade agreements to start November 10^th and run through December 14^th.

Much like the MLB, the KBO also experienced a delayed and stunted 2020 season. The updated trade window will allow posted players 30 days to negotiate with interested teams. Trade agreements include transfer fees set in place between both baseball leagues.

The trade window signifies one of the most exciting times of the year. Normally, league drafts and trades occur within national boundaries. The NHL and NBA both see high percentages of international players, and the MLB itself is no stranger to incoming talent from Latin America.

Still, movement between the MLB and KBO signifies a high standard of talent from two leagues on opposite sides of the world with distinct cultures. Star players ranging from Chan Ho Park of the LA Dodgers in the mid-90s and the Toronto Blue Jays’ current pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu keep fan interest high in the KBO.

Top Prospects: Kim and Na

This year’s leading prospects to move from the KBO to the MLB are Ha-seong Kim and Sung-bum Na. Kim is a shortstop for Seoul’s Kiwoom Heroes team. Na is an outfielder with Changwon’s NC Dinos.

Both Kim and Na are top prospects for the MLB based on their home run averages. Teams looking to bolster their hitting rosters, like the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Texas Rangers, may look to the KBO for help.

This year’s World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and LA Dodgers has focused on each team’s home run power. A team’s ability to hit home runs informs key factors like MLB betting odds created by analysts, how coaches structure their rosters, and how competitors rotate their pitchers.

So far, it seems that Kim is the top prospect—and with good reason. The shortstop posted 30 home runs this past season and is able to steal bases with a total of 21 steals (out of 23 attempts).

Kim would have more years to play in the MLB as a 24-year-old. Outfielder Na, on the other hand, posted 31 home runs this season. Still, he’s coming off a serious knee injury from 2019 at 31 years of age.

As the trade window prepares to open, trades to and from the MLB and KBO will give fans something to get excited about as they wait for Spring Training to come. In addition to watching favorites like Na and Kim, other KBO players to keep an eye out for include Jung-hoo Lee, outfielder for the Kiwoom Heroes, and Baek-ho Kang, outfielder and first baseman for the KT Wiz.

Movement Between KBO & MLB

Trades that bring KBO players to the MLB isn’t the only direction of movement between the leagues. While the St. Louis Cardinals recently signed pitcher Kwang-hyun Kim to an $8 million, two-year contract, there are a growing number of MLB players headed east to play in the KBO.

First baseman and outfielders Eric Thames spent three years playing for the NC Dinos in the KBO before earning a three-year contract worth $16 million from the Milwaukee Brewers in 2016.

The Brewers did it again this year when they signed pitcher Josh Lindblom to a two-year deal worth over $9 million. This came after Lindblom received the KBO’s MVP Award for his performance in the 2019-20 season, as well as his second Pitcher’s Golden Glove award based on his pitching averages.