November 25, 2004
Korean Slugger Shim Looking for a Home
By Brian Walton
Roughly a third of all major league players hail from outside the United States and the number is growing. Look at some of the places MLB players call home: Aruba, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Curacao, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Taiwan and Venezuela. Speaking of Venezuela, under VP Jeff Luhnow’s direction, the Cardinals are investing in a developmental league there as they dip their toe back into the Caribbean waters.
As we look to the future, expect some of the emerging countries in terms of baseball maturity to become more important as a source for future players. Think about the prospect of China, for example. We’ll see an increased focus on baseball internationally as its World Cup gets underway in 2006.
One such locale that is further along in terms of development is Korea. There is ongoing debate over comparison of the level of play to the US. If Japan is Triple-A caliber, then the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) is likely Double-A.
Still, there were at least six Koreans playing in the big leagues this past season. Other than disappointing Dodger first baseman Hee Seop Choi, the other five are hurlers. Byung-Hyun Kim, Jae-Weong Seo, Sun-Woo Kim, Chan-Ho Park and Jung-Keun Bong each had their barriers to success, but there is no dispute that they made it to the pinnacle of the game.
After being claimed on waivers from Montreal, pitcher Seung Song was outrighted to Triple-A by the Toronto Blue Jays, but is expected to be in spring training. Seattle’s Shin-Soo Choo is not viewed to be far away. In fact, the outfielder was just added to the Mariners’ 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Staying with hitters, two powerful sluggers emerged over the past few seasons in the KBO, Seung-Yeop Lee and Jong-Soo Shim, called the Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris of Korea.
Both players spent Spring Training 2003 with the Florida Marlins in Jupiter with dreams of eventually becoming big leaguers and were viewed to be legitimate by then-manager Jeff Torborg and other observers.
Five-time KBO MVP Lee returned to Korea to set the Asian single-season home run record in 2003 with 56 in a 132-game season. Rather than come to the US, Lee played in 2004 under former Rangers and Mets skipper Bobby Valentine for Japan’s Chiba Lotte Marines. However, Lee struggled, and was actually sent to the minor leagues for a time in an attempt to get him going.
The other Korean hitting star, the 29-year-old Shim, also impressed in the spring of 2003, hitting over .300 with a home run and three RBI in limited duty for Florida. Returning home, Shim had a standout 2003 season, when he logged a .335 average, 53 homers and 142 RBIs. Defensively, Shim is very strong. His arm is recognized as best in the KBO and he has won two consecutive Golden Glove awards.
After the 2003 season, for the second consecutive year, Shim unsuccessfully requested for his contract to be posted, making him available to the Major Leagues. Korean rules lock players into a seven-year contract before they can be posted and nine years before they can become a free agent. As a result, Shim remained contractually-bound to the Hyundai Unicorns for the 2004 season.
So, the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Shim, nicknamed Hercules, stayed home. After missing the first two months with a knee injury, he registered a .256 average with 22 home runs and 74 RBIs. His .385 on-base percentage shows excellent plate discipline for a power hitter. Shim helped to lead his Unicorns to a repeat as KBO champions this past season.
Most importantly, this fall, Shim completed his contract, enabling him to negotiate with any team with no strings attached. Shim, already fluent in English, has retained the SFX agency to represent him. Other SFX free agent clients include Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez.
Shim is no stranger to the Cardinals. In addition to appearing in Spring Training with the Marlins in 2003, he did the same with the Cubs in 2002 and also spent 50 games with the Cardinals’ Florida Instructional League team way back in 1994.
If he stayed in Korea, even remaining the highest-paid player in the game, Shim would likely fetch under $1 million. He made the equivalent of $500 thousand last season. Instead, Shim longs for a chance to play in the majors.
Are the Cardinals among the five major league teams who have allegedly shown interest in Jong-Soo Shim? Could he truly play soon at that level and be the power bat off the bench that the Cardinals need? Could Shim be another Hideki Matsui or would he be another So Taguchi-type disappointment?
(Tomorrow, I’ll take another look at a player I first profiled last winter, Japanese second baseman Tadahito Iguchi.)
