Infielder Patrick Wisdom has reached an agreement with the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization, as noted by Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. Yoo notes that the deal is currently pending a physical. The Naranjeros de Hermosillo, for whom Wisdom had been playing in the Mexican Pacific Winter League, announced earlier today that they’ve removed Wisdom from their roster in deference to the wishes of his new club after the sides agreed to a deal.
Wisdom, 33, was a first-round pick by St. Louis back in 2012 but but didn’t make his big league debut until 2018. After making it into just 43 games across three seasons in the majors with the Cardinals, Rangers, and Cubs, he settled into a regular role with Chicago during the 2021 season. As a 29-year-old rookie that year, Wisdom took over the everyday third base job from outgoing star Kris Bryant and performed admirably in the role. He hit .231/.305/.518 (117 wRC+) despite an eye-popping 40.8% strikeout rate thanks to 28 homers in just 375 trips to the plate and earned himself a fourth-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting.
That success Wisdom found in his rookie season suggested he might have a future in the majors if he managed to cut down on the strikeouts a bit, and he did that over the next two seasons. In 2022 and ’23, Wisdom hit a combined .206/.295/.453 (108 wRC+) with a 35.2% strikeout rate and 48 homers in 836 trips to the plate. By the end of the 2023 season, Wisdom had generally ceded his everyday role in the lineup to a combination of Nick Madrigal, Christopher Morel, and deadline addition Jeimer Candelario, and he headed into the 2024 season projecting as a bench bat for Chicago.
His time on the bench with the Cubs did not go especially well, as Wisdom posted his worst season since getting an extended look in the majors back in 2021. He stepped up to the plate 174 times in 75 games with Chicago this year and hit just .171/.237/.392 (75 wRC+). While his strikeout rate ticked down to “just” 33.9%, Wisdom struggled to generate his trademark power with just eight home runs this year, and his walk rate suffered as he took a free base just 5.7% of the time. That steep decline in production in conjunction with Wisdom’s ever-shrinking role on the team led the Cubs to non-tender him last month, at which point he joined the free agent market.
Now, it appears he’ll head overseas to test his abilities in KBO league play, which is notoriously devoid of high-end power hitters. Former big league Matt Davidson led the league with 46 home runs last year and sported a high-power, strikeout-heavy profile similar to Wisdom during his time in the majors, so it’s certainly within the realm of possibility that Wisdom winds up doing quite well for himself as part of a Tigers offense that already led the KBO league in slugging percentage this past season.
Didn’t realize he was that old tbh
Oh Shoot! I wanted Wisdom back in Seattle for third base. I will ask Uncle Mike if Miles Mastrobuoni is a suitable replacement. Mariners might be able to afford him.
Not if you expect anything with the bat. Fine defender as a plug-in, but cannot hit to save his life.
He has 88 more big league hone runs than you do
Mastrobuoni will take over for his tepid bat. At least with Wisdom you got pop. Miles just sucks, must have dirt on Hoyer.
If Bellinger isn’t traded he plays 1B with Busch sliding over to 3B. Mastrobuoni is a bench player if he even makes the team
Mastrobuoni needs to join Wisdom in Korea when he’s finally DFA’d
IDK what the KBO home run record is but this dude might break it.
56 for a single season. Lee Seung-Yeop 2003.
He’ll pull a Matt Davidson and drop 40 tanks and hit .320.
South Korea makes poor cars. But they make good looking girls.
So happy for him. He will probably rake over there.
One of the best Cubs.
Seems like a wise choice.
He’ll do good over there. Didn’t quite have the eye for major league pitching, but he had some good moments with the Cubbies.
Go mash over there Wizzy
This is probably a perfect fit for him