Yang Hyun-jong, up to $1.85 million… MLB Texas Minor League contract official announcement :: Kyungnam Newspaper

Left-handed pitcher Yang Hyeon-jong (33) finally got the chance to throw in the dream stage of the American Professional Baseball Major League (MLB).

The MLB Texas Rangers team officially announced on the 13th (Korean time) that they signed a minor league contract with Yang Hyun-jong, catcher and first baseman John Hicks, and infielder Brock Holt and invited them to spring camp.

MLB.com also revealed some of Yang’s contract details.

Yang Hyun-jong signed a one-year split contract, whose annual salary varies according to’status’.

MLB.com said, “If Yang Hyun-jong enters the major leagues, he will receive a guaranteed annual salary of 1.3 million dollars (about 1.4 billion won), and additional bonuses of 550,000 dollars (about 610 million won) can be received depending on his performance.

The maximum amount that Yang Hyeon-jong can receive in 2021 is 1.85 million dollars (about 2,500 million won).

With this, Yang Hyun-jong, who played 14 years in the Korean professional baseball KIA Tigers and advanced to the big leagues, participated in the Texas pitching and catcher training held at Surprise Stadium in Arizona, USA from the 18th to challenge the promotion of the big league through a demonstration game. I got a chance.

Yang Hyun-jong was not included in the 23 pitchers of the 40-man roster list announced by the Texas club on the same day.

However, there is a lot of possibility of being promoted to a big leaguer by recognition of skills in spring camp and demonstration games.

Yang Hyeon-jong, who has been training in Korea, is expected to be transferred to the United States soon after receiving a work visa.

MLB Traderumers.com (MLBTR), which reports the status of major league player transfers and contracts prior to the Texas club’s official announcement, reported that Hyunjong Yang had a minor league contract with Texas on the day, citing various media.

After the 2014 season, Texas has been building antennas after first paying attention to Yang Hyeon-jong, who was aiming to advance to the major leagues through a posting system (closed competitive bidding).

At the time, when it was revealed that Yang Hyun-jong was expected to receive only $1.5 million from the major league club, KIA said that he could not send an ace at a bargain price, leaving him with the team.

After the end of last season, when Yang Hyeon-jong obtained his second free agent (FA) qualification, he promoted to advance to the major leagues, and when he faced difficulties in negotiations, he lowered his eye level, saying he would not refuse a minor league contract.

In the end, Texas, in need of pitching reinforcement, reached out to Yang Hyun-jong.

MLBTR introduced that Yang Hyun-jong was a steady cheol-wan, who threw more than 1,200 innings for eight years in 2013-2019 and left an average ERA of 3.35.

He also emphasized that the durability was verified by starting more than 29 times a year for the past 7 years.

In the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the major leagues played an ultra-mini shortened season of 60 games per team in 2020. So, no pitcher has thrown more than 85 innings.

On the contrary, Yang Hyun-jong, who recorded more than that double pitching innings, could theoretically become one of the best pitchers in his fingers, who can pitch more than 180 innings by starting 33-34 times as a starting pitcher this season, MLBTR said.

Only three starting pitchers for Texas were decided: Kyle Gibson, Mike Poltinevic and Gohei Arihara.

Dallas Morning News predicted that Yang Hyeon-jong will compete with Jordan Lyles, Korean Dane Dunning, and Kyle Cody at the spring camp for 4-5 starters.

Texas is preparing for this season with a different mound management, such as a six starting system or a ‘1+1’ strategy that puts two pitchers one after another on a specific day, rather than fixing the starting pitcher to 5, so Yang Hyun-jong is preparing for the possibility in the demonstration game. If you are recognized, your chances of becoming a big leaguer also increase.

The Texas club introduced that Yang Hyun-jong made 31 appearances in the KBO league last year, leaving 11-10 and an average ERA of 4.70, as well as a tie for second in the number of starting starts, fifth in strikeouts (149), and seventh in pitching innings.

In addition, he added that in 2019, he set a personal record with an average ERA of 2.29 and an on-base allowance per inning (WHIP) of 1.072, and was selected as the best player (MVP) with 20 wins in 2017.

When Yang Hyun-jong becomes a big leaguer, Park Chan-ho (retired) and Choo Shin-soo are the third Koreans to wear a Texas uniform.

As of this day, 71 people including 40 players in the big league roster and 31 invited players participate in the Texas Spring Camp.

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