The Korea Baseball Organization’s Doosan Bears have decided to part ways with former MLB slugger Scott Van Slyke, as Yonhap News reports. Formally, the club has requested waivers on Van Slyke.
It took only a dozen games for the Bears to sour on the outfielder/first baseman, who was added after things failed to work out with another non-Korean player, Jimmy Paredes. Now, the club says it will go without a foreign hitter as it tries to finish off a strong overall season.
KBO teams are allowed up to three foreign players under league rules. (A new version of the rules will impact signings, but will not change the number of roster spots.) Doosan already employs righties Seth Frankoff and Josh Lindblom, both of whom have turned in quality seasons in the hitter-friendly league.
Van Slyke, 32, joined the Bears after opening the season with a .248/.354/.467 batting line in 162 plate appearances at Triple-A in the Marlins organization. The former Dodgers platoon man has had some productive seasons in the majors, but hasn’t seen much time or been very effective at the game’s highest level since 2015.
Ultimately, Van Slyke struggled through his brief time in the KBO, carrying a meager .128/.209/.231 slash and one home run. It’s a short leash, to be sure, but perhaps it’s hard to argue given that the club leads the league in runs despite receiving paltry output from its non-Korean hitters.
andrewf
It looks like they need Nick Evans back ASAP.
Donald Trump
When my comment is censored, they’ll delete this one too because it says they censored me, and that just can’t be published!
pinkerton
what’s yer point?
hiflew
His point is to troll. Simple as that.
andrewf
I hate how this site’s comment section is troll city.
Goku the Knowledgable One
Well it is a comment section….
cubsfan2489
Makes me wonder if this is the real Donald, certainly acting like just as big of a douche as he does!
JJB
[This comment has been removed by The National Security Agency.]
Jeff Todd
I’m just being clear since he’s accusing us of censorship, or something.
JJB
I know you guys never edit comments unless you have to (i.e. inappropriate language), so no worries. My comment is in jest after “Donald Trump” posted above.
Jeff Todd
All good. I’m just stating things for the record.
I prefer not to edit comments at all, but try to make clear in the rare cases when I do. Typically, that’s when someone throws a bad word into a comment they spent a lot of time on and I don’t want them to lose their work.
Polish Hammer
No they do edit comments at will. I’ve had several comments that weren’t inflammatory or inappropriate at all get erased from other threads.
Sid Bream
But the ‘Korean League is weak’, i’ve read it here from any number of contributors on this site many times.
What would you all be saying if a Korean player was hitting $1.28 after 12 games in USA. I remember all the bad comments about Hyun Soo Kim, and then he ended up contributing very well and was not given much of a chance in his second year. If AAA in USA is superior to the KBO then Van Slyke should be a .300 hitter(pretty much instantly) in Korea, shouldn’t he…
I’d also argue that Jae-gyun Hwang was given about the same short leash with San Francisco in relevant terms as Van Slyke is being given with the Doosan Bears.
Hwang went 8/52 with a HR and a double and a BA of .154 and 5 rbi’s in 18 games and was sent packing to AAA where he hit .285.
JJB
“What would you all be saying if a Korean player was hitting $1.28 after 12 games in USA.”
I would have a 404 ERROR of the brain trying to figure out how he hit that. If he was hitting like he was worth $1.28, he’d probably be hitting .001 or something.
jd396
I bet you would
Sid Bream
You obviously do not understand baseball terminology and the term ‘hitting a buck 28’. Maybe you’ve never played the game to comprehend what I was talking about, I’d say that is quite clear.
Jeff Todd
You’d have to point out any examples. I’d be surprised to learn that any of our writers has disparaged the quality of play in the KBO. We often note that it is hitter-friendly, because it is, same as we often note about the PCL. That’s important context. But we treat the league with respect and are actually quite keen to cover the points where it overlaps with the MLB market.
Sid Bream
Jeff, I didn’t mean that you or any of the people that write here were disparaging, I meant some of the commenters on these pages. My apologies if I was not clear about that.
Jeff Todd
Okay, no worries, sorry for mis-reading that.
Sirsleepit
12 games is what… 48 -60 abs tops? I would not be worried in the slightest. Now if that number stayed over 150-200 abs I would get worried
Mendoza Line 215
I wondered why there were so many comments on this article.
Obviously Jeff should comment as he sees fit but the POTUS troll could be ignored by the rest of us and quite often and hopefully he and any others will go to another site to infest.
It is a wonder that there are not more of them.They just do this to get attention.
jd396
Can we just delete the obvious troll posts? This whole thread about a marginal former MLBer getting cut loose by a KBO team turned into… this.