The Texas Rangers have an agreement to sign Seong-Jun Kim, a shortstop and righthanded pitcher from South Korea, to a $1.2 million bonus, per Baseball America. Kim is a high schooler who, per BA, was expected to go high in this year’s KBO draft. The Rangers reportedly will develop him as a two-way player, which is fun.
The Rangers, as you may recall, were heavy in the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes, and as a result kept much of their international bonus pool money uncommitted in the hopes that they would be using it to sign Sasaki. Sasaki going to the Dodgers meant the Rangers had unallocated funds available to spend, and have apparently decided to use much of that on Kim.
Sasaki, it is worth pointing out, has not been great for the Dodgers so far this year. While he has a 3.86 ERA, his xERA is 5.52, and he’s combined a very high walk rate with a well-below-average K rate and an abysmal chase rate.
