The Minnesota Twins were the surprise winners for the bidding rights to Korean slugger Byung Ho Park, a 29-year-old first baseman who hit .343 with 53 home runs in the Korean league. The Twins now have 30 days to negotiate a deal with the first baseman.
OK, the first question: Is he for real? Well, here's a 41-minute highlight video of, I think, all his home runs from 2014. The first thing I noticed: He's a big boy. Baseball-Reference lists him at 6-foot-1, 194 pounds, but he looks a lot bigger than that, although it appears he may have slimmed down in 2015. Anyway, Twins Daily reports he hit an estimated 522-foot home run in September, so the raw power is certainly there.
Let's compare Park to Jung Ho Kang, who came over to the Pirates in 2015 from the Korean Baseball Organization and hit .287/.355/.461 with 15 home runs in 421 at-bats with Pittsburgh.
Kang 2013: .291/.387/.469, 22 HR, 68 BB, 109 SO, 532 PA
Park 2013: .318/.437/.602, 37 HR, 92 BB, 96 SO, 556 PA
Kang 2014: .356/.459/.739, 40 HR, 68 BB, 106 SO, 501 PA
Park 2014: .303/.433/.686, 52 HR, 96 BB, 142 SO, 571 PA
Park 2015: .343/.436/.714, 53 HR, 78 BB, 161 SO, 622 PA
Based on Kang's production with the Pirates, Park has a chance to put up better-than-average numbers for a first baseman. One thing that jumps out, however: Park's strikeout rate. He has 303 strikeouts over the past two seasons and his increase in home runs has come with a much higher strikeout rate. Kang's strikeout rate actually remained exactly the same at 21 percent. Park's K rate in 2015 was 25.8 percent, which would've put him in the top 15 among major league regulars in 2015, similar to Justin Upton and Brandon Belt.
How will that approach carry over to the major leagues? In his top-50 free-agent preview, Keith Law ranked Park No. 29, citing him as a boom-or-bust signing while pointing out that Eric Thames and Yamaico Navarro each hit 48 home runs in Korea as well. Keith wrote, "Nevertheless, scouts seem to agree that Park's power will translate, though perhaps not his batting average, as he's strong but without great bat speed; he led the KBO in strikeouts by a wide margin. Park has very strong hands and rotates his hips very well for power, but closes too much when he strides and could be vulnerable on the inner-third, as well as against better velocity."
The interesting question for the Twins, assuming they sign Park, is where he will fit in the lineup. They have Joe Mauer at first base, Trevor Plouffe at third base and Miguel Sano at designated hitter. Maybe they trade Plouffe and move Sano back to third base, where he projected as an average defender before his Tommy John surgery in 2014. Plouffe is a solid enough major leaguer, with two years left before free agency. He could return a back-end starter with similar service time or a decent prospect from a team that needs a third baseman, such as the Angels, White Sox, Indians or Brewers.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see if he signs and for how much. The Pirates got a bargain in signing Kang for four years and $11 million (with a $5.5 million club option). The Pirates paid a posting fee of just more than $5 million for Kang, although I don't know if that also translates to a higher salary for Park since his posting fee was more than twice Kang's.
Also, if you're a Twins fan, be sure to check out the terrific offseason handbook the folks at Twins Daily put together, to see what else the Twins may have in store this offseason.