According to Jiheon Pae, an editor at Sports Chunchu Basbeall, the Yankees were one of 20 teams scouting one of the brightest young stars in Korea. Do Yeong Kim, a 21-year-old infielder, launched a home run for Korea in the Premiere12 tournament, and he’s one of if not the very best player in the Korean Baseball Organization right now. This past season he hit 38 home runs with 40 steals, becoming the youngest player in KBO history to crack the 30-HR threshold. He’s a third baseman naturally but has played some shortstop as well in his time as a pro.
He cannot be posted until 2030, meaning he’s far away from being posted to join a Major League team, but he is expected to command an incredibly strong market when he eventually is posted.
Yankees Scouting Top Korean Infielder With Incredible Upside
The Yankees are an international brand, and it’s allowed them to be players in the international market at various points in league history. Whether it was importing 2009 World Series MVP Hideki Matsui or their presence in the South America, the Yankees’ sphere of influence spans across any region where baseball is popular.
While the Yankees haven’t signed a big-time free agent from Korea, they have had some players such as Rob Refsnyder and Chan-ho Park who are from South Korea play for them in the past. Do Yeong Kim is one of the best players in Korea already after nearly putting up a 40-40 season in his age-20 season.
His feel for contact is excellent but his power and speed are what will keep scouts salivating over what his potential output could be moving forward. If Kim continues to develop, he could become the highest-paid hitter from Asia coming to the big leagues, which was previously set by fellow Korean Jung-Hoo Lee who received a six-year $113 million deal from the Giants.
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It’s not only the Yankees who will heavily scout Do Yeong Kim in the coming years, as there’s plenty of time for teams to collect data or get in-person looks at the star infielder. Few players have immediately developed global hype in the KBO the way that Do Yeong Kim has, and I expect him to become a prized player on the international market when he eventually gets posted.
Not enough can be known about what any team will be able to offer or what Kim’s preferences are in terms of who he would want to sign with, but one would imagine a team would at the very least need to be willing to foot a hefty bill.