Are The Braves Bidding on Jae-gyun Hwang?
By Fred Owens
The Lotte Giants will post third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun (Americanized version Jae-Gyun Hwang), Will the Braves bid for the right to sign him? Graphic created by Fred Owens for Tomahawk Take
The Lotte Giants didn’t get any offers on Ah-seop Son and are now almost certain to post third baseman Jae-gyun Hwang. Would he fit for the Atlanta Braves?
I wrote a couple of weeks ago that the Braves could be players for Ah-seop Son as part of an inexpensive rebuild. It was a minor surprise when no one bid on Son but that hesitation to bid could well have been because teams felt Lotte weren’t going to accept any offer.
The Giant’s also hold rights to Hwang who is nearing the end of his controllability whereas Son remains under their control.
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Both players asked ot be posted at the same time but KBO rules restrict teams to successfully posting one player a year. Hwang’s been very open about his desire to play here. He told The Korean Times:
"“Any baseball player would dream of playing in the majors,” the 28-year-old said. “And I have been working hard to realize that dream myself. I’ve already signed on with an American management company.”"
When the posting was first announced speculation suggested that they posted Son in order to show respect for his wishes and see what he might bring next year. No that no bid was received on Son the YonHap News Agency reports that club will honor Hwang’s wishes.
“Hwang has repeatedly asked us to post him,” a Giants official said. “We respect his wishes and will be posting him in the near future through the KBO.”
Hwang Jae-Gyun (As listed in Korea)
At 6’, 180 pounds the 28 year old Hwang isn’t a big guy but he has been a consistently improving player. Over the last four years his batting average and power numbers have climbed without damaging his ability to get on base. There are no advanced stats for the KBO that I can find so we’re limited of the traditional numbers.
All stats are from Baseball-Reference.com except RISP which came from My KBO Stats
Last year was his age 28 season and clearly his best at the plate. When he was younger he was a 20+ stolen base a year player but as his power numbers went up his stolen base numbers declined. He’s still fast enough to beat out an infield hit. Whether Hwang’s numbers will tansition to the majors is of course a question scouts have to answer. Even then a lot depends on the mental makeup and inherent talent of the player.