Minnesota Twins ByungHo Park Returning to Korea

After a disappointing two years with the Minnesota Twins, ByungHo Park is returning to Korea to continue his baseball career.

When the Minnesota Twins inked ByungHo Park to a four year, $12 Million contract, the hope was that they had found a desperately needed power hitter at a relatively low cost. Park had been one of the better sluggers in the Korean Baseball Organization, with back to back seasons of 50 or more homers. Even if the power would not entirely translate to the majors, the hope was that Park would be a candidate to hit 30 homers and , essentially, be what Eric Thames was for the Brewers this season.

However, the Twins gamble backfired. Park had a hot start to the 2016 campaign, before strikeouts and a wrist injury eventually derailed his season. Before being sent down, Park produced a meager .191/.275/.409 batting line, striking out 69 times in 224 plate appearances. However, when he made contact, he was able to showcase his power, with 12 homers and nine doubles.

That was his only major league action, as Park spent the entire 2017 campaign in Rochester. Although he showed some improvement, Park did not do enough to warrant a return to Minnesota. Now, he is turning away from Major League Baseball, returning to the KBO on a one year deal worth $1.4 Million.

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The timing of Park’s return to Korea is interesting. Although Joe Mauer is entrenched at first, Park seemingly had a chance to play into a role as the Twins designated hitter. Kennys Vargas has not exactly lit the world on fire, and a healthy Park could have been a viable alternative.

Instead, he will now head back to Korea, where he had been a star. In addition to those two excellent power years, Park had been an excellent contributor with the bat. He has a career .281/.387/.564 batting line in the KBO, hitting 210 homers and 137 doubles. Even in a league with inflated batting totals, Park’s performance stood out, with major league teams taking notice.

Of course, there is also the question of how his contract will be handled. The Twins are, in theory, on the hook for another $6.5 Million over the next two seasons until his contract runs out. It is possible that the Twins and the Nexen Heroes, Park’s KBO organization, can work out some sort of arrangement for his salary. Nonetheless, the Twins experiment in Korea, at least this time, has come to an end as a failure.

Next: Twins looking to add pitching

The Minnesota Twins appeared that they were getting a bargain in ByungHo Park. Instead, they ended up with 62 games at the major league level for that price.