KBO teams seal up foreign player rosters ahead of spring training

All 10 teams in the KBO have reached their foreign player maximums for the 2024 season, capping off months of movement in the domestic baseball league.

Kia Tigers' Socrates Brito enters the batter's box with a trumpet in the first inning during the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League All-Star Game at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan in July 2023. [NEWS1]

All 10 teams in the KBO have reached their foreign player maximums for the 2024 season, capping off months of movement in the domestic baseball league.

The Kia Tigers on Friday signed American pitcher James Naile on a one-year deal worth up to $700,000, becoming the final team to complete its foreign player lineup with two months still to go before opening day.

Naile, 30, will receive an annual salary of $350,000 with a signing bonus of $200,000 and can earn up to $150,000 in incentives, the club said. The Tigers will also pay a $250,000 transfer fee to the St. Louis Cardinals to bring the MLB pitcher to Korea.

The right-hander picked up an 8.80 ERA over 10 games with the Cardinals in 2023 and is expected to join the Tigers’ starting lineup, according to the club’s announcement last week.

Naile will join fellow American pitcher and KBO newbie Wil Crowe in Gwangju, along with outfielder Socrates Brito, who returns to the team for a third season.

KBO teams are allowed to have up to three foreign players on their roster with a maximum of two pitchers, according to league rules.

The nine other teams in the league had already filled their foreign player roster spots, and all 10 are bringing two pitchers on board — a common pick for KBO clubs looking to bolster their arsenal with pitching talent from abroad.

Foreign pitchers have historically outperformed their Korean-trained counterparts when it comes to speed, bringing experience from the majors and the minors — along with leagues elsewhere in Asia or across Latin America.

Four out of the five leaders in ERA last season were pitchers from abroad, with ex-NC Dinos’ Erick Fedde leading the pack with a clean 2.00. Kiwoom Heroes’ An Woo-jin ended the season in second place with a 2.39 but was closely trailed by David Buchanan of the Samsung Lions, Kiwoom teammate Raul Alcantara and Ariel Jurado of the Doosan Bears.

Alcantara and Jurado have both re-signed with their respective Seoul clubs for the 2024 season, each on return deals worth more than $1 million.

But a majority of teams have players making their KBO debuts, with just the KT Wiz and the Bears heading into the 2024 season with three men who’ve already clocked time in Korea.

The Lions and the Dinos have the greenest lineups, each with three foreign players who are set to make their KBO debuts in March.

The Samsung Lions are bringing in American infielder David Mackinnon, who has spent time in the Major leagues and Japan’s NPB where he recorded a .259 batting average with the Saitama Seibu Lions in 2023. The Daegu club also signed ex-MLB pitchers Connor Seabold and Denyi Reyes, with Seabold carrying a career 8.12 ERA over 33 Major League games and Reyes trucking a 6.26 ERA over 12.

The Dinos are filling the Fedde-shaped space on their roster with pitchers Daniel Castano, who has a career 4.47 ERA in the majors, and Kyle Hart, who has a career 3.72 ERA in the minors. The Changwon team closed up their foreign player roster with outfielder Matt Davidson on a $1 million deal, the cap for first-year foreign players.

The 2023 Korean Series champions LG Twins and runners-up KT Wiz were the biggest spenders, with each team offering deals worth up to a total of $3,800,000 across player salaries, bonuses and incentives.

LG ace Casey Kelly, returning for his sixth season in Seoul, and SSG Landers slugger Guillermo Heredia, who will notch his second KBO season, are this year’s biggest earners, each scoring deals worth up to $1.5 million.

While teams have closed up shop on the foreign player front for now, lineups are almost certain to look different by the end of the 2024 season — whether players are released due to injury or a failure to perform.

While a new “alternative foreign player recruitment system” is set to take effect this upcoming KBO season, it remains to be seen whether it will impact player movements after games have begun.

With rosters locking up, teams are gearing up to head out of Korea, escaping the cold snap for spring training overseas.

The KBO season kicks off on March 23.

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