‘Journeyman’ Park Hyo-jun, 27, will have to find a new team again.
The Gwinnett Strikers, the minor league Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB), announced the names of 20 players on their website on July 7 (KST), including shortstop Park Hyo-jun. Park is a free agent and will need to find a new team.
Park signed with the New York Yankees in July 2014 for $1.16 million as a junior at Yatapo. After graduating from Yatapo and moving to the United States with dreams of playing in the major leagues, Park began his minor league career in 2015. He spent a long time in the minors and made his major league debut for the Yankees on July 17, 2021. He became the 25th Korean major leaguer in history.
But his joy was short-lived. After just one at-bat, he was sent back to the minors, and a few days later, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Park played one game for the Yankees that year and 44 games for Pittsburgh. In 45 games, he batted 1-for-9 with three home runs, 14 RBIs, and one stolen base.
He bounced back and forth between the major leagues and the minors. Last season, he batted .276 with two doubles, two home runs, and six RBIs in 23 major league games. That’s it for Park’s major league career. He didn’t see big league action until the 2023 season.
After being designated for assignment by Pittsburgh at the end of the 2022 season, Park was traded to the Boston Red Sox, only to be designated for assignment again. He was then traded again to Atlanta. However, he was designated for assignment again and remained in the minors.
This year, he played 101 minor league games for the Triple-A Gwinnett Strikers, hitting .385 with a .385 on-base percentage, .379 slugging percentage, and .764 OPS in 42 games with six home runs, 42 RBIs, and 16 stolen bases. He didn’t play much in the big leagues after coming to the United States, but in 754 minor league games, he batted .251 with 50 homers, 292 RBIs, a .365 OBP, a .369 slugging percentage, and a .734 OPS. 보스토토 주소
In the future, he could be looking at not only a U.S. team, but also a KBO turnaround. In defense, Park played mostly in the infield, but he also played the outfield. In the majors, he played 27 games at second base, and in the minors, he played 242 games (240 starts) at shortstop.
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