Sep 13, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; Colorado Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario (20) throws out St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday (not pictured) during the eighth inning at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Rockies 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
The Japanese and Korean professional baseball systems have always been an option for big league veterans who can’t seem to get the consistent playing time that they desire, or young players fed up with the minor-league grind. They can go over to play in front of huge crowds, and secure themselves large contracts and sponsorship deals.
Sometimes it’s former MLB stars that just want a couple more seasons of baseball at the end of their careers, and see Asia as an adventurous last chapter in their baseball story. Take Andruw Jones, he of the 434 MLB home runs, 10 consecutive gold gloves and 5 all-star appearances. Jones was an excellent Major League player, if slightly removed from the hall-of-fame trajectory shown early in his career.
After 2012 the Yankees’ decided not to re-sign the aging star, and Jones decided to try Japan. He played two seasons for the Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Japanese Pacific League, winning the Japan Series (the World Series equivalent) in his first season, and hitting 50 home runs over the two years. Jones tried an MLB comeback after finding so much success in Japan, but wouldn’t be offered a contract and retired this January.
Other players go to Asia to rebuild some value, and show teams that given playing time they can be productive hitters. Cecil Fielder and Julio Franco both spent time overseas in the middle of their careers, and more recently Ryan Vogelsong played three seasons in Japan before returning to win two World Series rings with the San Francisco Giants. Vogelsong is still pitching in the majors after signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates this offseason.
Here are five of the top former MLB players currently playing in Japanese or Korean baseball leagues:
Rick VandenHurk is an example of a player who just couldn’t find consistent playing time in the MLB, and decided to take his talents elsewhere.
In 2002, VandenHurk was a 16-year old catcher in the Netherlands being scouted by many MLB teams. He ended up signing with the Florida Marlins and entered their minor league system in 2003, immediately transitioning him to the mound. He performed well in his first few years as a pro, but didn’t get above A-ball.
Then, in April of 2007 Ricky Nolasco‘s elbow was acting up early in the season and the Marlins called on VandenHurk to make a spot start. He performed very well in his debut, allowing just 1 run in a rain shortened game. He would make 16 more starts that season, not going as smoothly, but was still a young arm with a lot of potential.
VandenHurk would bounce up and down between the minors and the big leagues for the next few years until in 2013 he decided to head to Korea to play in the KBO. VandenHurk would pitch two solid seasons for the Samsung Lions, winning back-to-back Korean Series on a powerhouse club.
After the 2014 season, VandenHurk jumped leagues again, this time going to the SoftBank Hawks of the NPB. At 30, the jump to a more pitching-minded league did VandenHurk good, going 9-0 with a 2.52 ERA and 120 K in just 93 innings. The Hawks would go on to win the Japan Series, making VandenHurk 3 for 3 in Asian leagues.
This season VandenHurk is off to an even better start, going 5-0 on the back of 1.98 ERA. His 14-0 record is the best start of all-time to an NPB career. With the Hawks off to a 22-8 start, VandenHurk looks like he’ll get another chance at a championship – with that kind of success why would he ever consider coming back to a league that released him three times.
Sometimes the Asian leagues are a good option for the less-talented siblings of big leaguers too.
Brandon Laird, younger brother of long-time major leaguer Gerald, took his talents to Japan after struggling in short call-ups for the Yankees and Astros. Always a big power prospect, Laird hit 134 jacks in his minor league career and 6 in just 127 big league at-bats, but just couldn’t hit enough to stay in the MLB.
At just 27, after a very successful AAA campaign (.300/.350/.490) that didn’t result in a single day on the Nationals’ 25-man roster, Laird decided to try something else. He signed with the Nippon Ham Fighters just weeks after the 2014 World Series ended.
It’s always a struggle getting used to a new team, let alone a new league and country, and for Laird it was no different. He hit under .200 for almost half the season, but showed that his power stroke was no joke. He finished the year with 34 home runs, good for 3rd in the league ahead of the legendary Wily Mo Pena (in his final season) and new Seattle Mariner Dae-ho Lee.
Laird is off to another great start this season, slashing .257/.314/.521 with a whopping 10 home runs in just 140 at-bats. He trails only Ernesto Mejia in that stat, another player developed in the American minor-league system (who only didn’t make this list because he never played an MLB game).
At only 28, Laird might get another look from an MLB team at some point if he keeps up his hitting. But after winning a life-time supply of beer on Monday, who would ever leave?
The Asian leagues have long been a landing spot for failed top prospects, guys that once looked like they had so much potential but could never really put it together.
Michael Bowden was once a stud prospect for the Red Sox, drafted in the first round in 2005, and put on BA’s top 100 prospect list three consecutive years from 2007-09. He made his debut in 2008 at the tender age of 21, but couldn’t seem to stick as a starter in the Red Sox rotation.
By 2010, the Sox had decided to move Bowden to the bullpen, closing games for their AAA Pawtucket team in 2011. From the pen, Bowden struggled with his command and bounced back and forth between AAA and the majors for both the Red Sox and, after being dealt for Marlon Byrd, the Cubs.
After the 2013 season, Bowden was granted free agency, and decided to try something different. He moved halfway across the globe and signed on with the Seibu Lions of the NPB. While pitching out of the Lions’ bullpen, Bowden decided to let this at least be a learning experience for him, and though he had mixed results on the field, he developed a split-fingered fastball that seemed to work.
At the end of the season, with a new weapon in tow, Bowden decided to try to return to America and see if his splitter would help. While he did find work in the MiLB no team seemed comfortable giving him a shot at a major league job, despite pitching to a 2.63 ERA in 123 AAA innings.
During that year, Bowden also finally got his wish to be stretched back out into a starter and though it never resulted in a major league call-up, it did land him a new contract in Asia. He’ll earn $650k in guaranteed money this season playing for the Doosan Bears, much more than he would have as a minor league player in the States.
If early returns are anything, Bowden is set for a successful career in the offense-friendly KBO. In 6 starts he is 4-1 with a 1.95 ERA. With his big upside and high pedigree, perhaps the 29-year old Bowden is finally figuring it all out. Hitters in the KBO better beware.
Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports /
Sometimes players shock everyone in the baseball world by moving to one of the Asian leagues. Perhaps sometimes it’s because of the perception of them in the MLB, or maybe because of the adventure that moving to a new country provides. Wilin Rosario is one of these instances, as he was expected to get a major league deal with an AL team after being designated for assignment by Colorado.
While the Rockies decided to move on from the rising price-tag of the arbitration eligible Rosario, he still had quite a promising career up to that point. In five years he’d hit .273/.306/.473 and shown big power from behind the plate. While his numbers are strengthened by playing at Coors Field, back to back 20+ HR seasons from a 23/24 year old catcher is impressive.
Rosario had been limited to mostly first base in his final season as advanced catching metrics had started to rank him very poorly, and Rockies’ management decided to go to Nick Hundley behind the plate. Still, you don’t often see a 26-year old former ROY candidate go to Korea.
It seems to be paying off for Rosario though, as he inked a $1.3 million dollar deal with the Hanwha Eagles prior to this season. He’s off to a blistering start with the struggling Eagles, slashing .339/.371/.560 through his first 31 games.
Rosario is a good candidate to come back Stateside eventually, as his youth and potential are still intriguing to many teams. It will be up to him though if he’d like to come back and be a probable bench player on an AL team, or if the success he’s found in Korea is enough to quench his competitive thirst.
For the last spot on our list, we selected a player who has so thoroughly dominated his new league that it’s almost unfair. Eric Thames is the reigning KBO MVP, and will surely get calls from a handful of MLB clubs when his current contract there expires.
Before the 2008 draft, Thames was a late rising prospect that was off to an amazing start for Pepperdine University. He was hitting .407 before a fateful play at first base tore his right-quad in half. Even then, BA ranked him as their 90th prospect in the draft, expecting him to go somewhere in rounds 3 or 4.
Thames ended up dropping all the way to round 7 once the severity of the injury was revealed, and he would lose an entire year of development only coming back late in the summer of 2009. Upon his return Thames would prove to be the fast-moving college bat that the Jays had hoped, making his debut in 2011 and playing 95 games for the club.
After performing admirably in his rookie campaign, Thames got off to a slow start in 2012 and was dealt to the Seattle Mariners only to see only marginal improvements. That was the last he’d see of the big leagues, as Thames would bounce around AAA for all of 2013, spending time with Seattle, Baltimore and Houston.
In 2014, he decided to move to the Korean league where he signed a three-year deal with the NC Dinos. That year, he slashed .343/.422/.688 only trailing Jung Ho Kang and Byung-ho Park – now both MLB players – in HR and OPS. He’d go on to improve even more.
His 2015 season is one of legend in Korea, as he hit .381/.497/.790 with 47 HR and 40 SB. He won the MVP, a gold glove at first base and became the first member of Korea’s own 40-40 club. He walked 103 times, with only 91 strikeouts. Despite the offensive atmosphere of the KBO, numbers like that simply can’t be ignored.
In 2016 he’s off to a similar (if more human) start, hitting .342/.417/.614 in his final year under contract. If Thames puts up anything near those numbers for another season, MLB clubs would be silly not to contact the 29-year old and try to get him to come back.
Perhaps Thames will never become an MLB star, maybe he’ll never even try. But right now he’s clearly the best former Major Leaguer playing in Asia, perhaps even of all-time. It will be fun to follow his offseason to see if he takes one more crack at his childhood dream, or just continues to be the face of the KBO for years to come.
