SEOUL– Three South Korean players have been added to the major league team for fall exhibition games to be played on their home soil.
Major League Baseball (MLB) on Thursday announced seven new players to their squad ahead of the “MLB World Tour: Korea Series,” with games set for Nov. 11 and 12 in the southeastern city of Busan and for Nov. 14 and 15 in Seoul.
The new group includes Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Choi Ji-man and two Pittsburgh Pirates players, Park Hoy-jun and Bae Ji-hwan.
Choi recently completed his seventh big league campaign and batted .233/.341/.388 with 11 homers and 52 RBIs in 113 games.
Park made the Opening Day roster in April but ended up playing just 23 games across four different stints.
Park had a .216/.276/.373 line with two home runs and six RBIs. The versatile player appeared at second base, third base, shortstop and right field this year.
Bae earned his first callup from the minors on Sept. 23 and made his major league debut the same day. He made most of his late-season audition, batting .333/.405/.424 with six RBIs and three steals. He handled second base, left field and center field.
They will be joined by Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena, the 2020 American League Championship Series MVP and the 2021 AL Rookie of the Year; Kolten Wong of the Milwaukee Brewers, a two-time Gold Glove winner; Jorge Mateo of the Baltimore Orioles, who led the AL with 35 steals this year; and Domingo German of the New York Yankees, an 18-game winner from the 2019 season.
For the first two games in Busan, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will have a team built with players from three clubs in the region — Lotte Giants, Samsung Lions and NC Dinos.
For the next two games, “Team Korea,” with players selected from all 10 KBO teams, will go up against the big leaguers.
Source: Yonhap News Agency