Landers use new KBO foreign player system to sign Keisho Shirakawa

It saves the Landers from using up their one remaining foreign player switch-up this season, as teams can only change players — release one and acquire another — twice.

SSG Landers manager Lee Soong-yong watches a game against the Kia Tigers at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on May 12. [YONHAP]

The SSG Landers on Wednesday became the first team in the KBO to tap into the league’s new “alternative foreign player” recruitment scheme when they signed 22-year-old Japanese pitcher Keisho Shirakawa as a stand-in for starter Roenis Elias, who is set to miss at least six weeks due to injury.

It saves the Landers from using up their one remaining foreign player switch-up this season, as teams can only change players — release one and acquire another — twice.

Shirakawa joins the Landers from the Tokushima Indigo Socks, a club that plays in an independent baseball league on Shikoku Island in Japan. He has a 2.17 ERA with four wins and one loss as one of the top-ranked pitchers in the four-team Shikoku Island League Plus.

Keisho Shirakawa [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The Landers had been scouting players from the Japanese independent league after the introduction of the temporary foreign player system and landed on Shirakawa for his mechanics and pitch tempo along with a fastball that goes up to 150 kilometers per hour, according to a Wednesday press release.

The last time a KBO club had a Japanese player on its roster was in 2011.

Under the new “alternative foreign player” system, adopted ahead of the 2024 season, teams can register an injured foreign player with an expected recovery time of more than six weeks as an “alternative foreign player,” keeping him on the roster while a new recruit temporarily takes his place.

The KBO said the system would address the “power imbalance” created by long-term injuries to foreign players without counting as one of the team’s allotted replacements that could otherwise be used toward bringing in a different player for one with a lackluster season.

The Landers were the first club to announce a change to their foreign player lineup this season when they released right-handed pitcher Robert Dugger, who picked up a 12.71 ERA over six games, and signed former major leaguer Drew Anderson in April.

SSG Landers' Drew Anderson pitches at the bottom of the first inning of a game against the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on May 17. [NEWS1]

If the Landers had released Elias, it would have barred them from bringing in a different foreign player through the end of the season.

In 2023, six teams released at least one of their foreign players due to injury, according to analysis by the Korea JoongAng Daily.

While alternative foreign players are eligible to earn up to $100,000 per month, Shirawaka will earn 1.8 million yen ($11,500) for his six weeks in Incheon, according to the press release.

When Elias returns, Shirawaka will have to leave the club unless the Landers decide to release Elias, opening up a foreign player spot.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]