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Minnesota Twins win rights to S. Korean super slugger Park Byung-ho

November 9, 2015
South Korean first baseman Park Byung-ho (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

South Korean first baseman Park Byung-ho (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

By Brian Han

The bidding war for South Korean super slugger Park Byung-ho ended at $12.85 million. Now the mystery of who the winner has been revealed as the Minnesota Twins, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan.

What this means is that the big league club beat out over a dozen over teams to access the rights to negotiate with the 29-year-old.

It is very likely that the two parties will strike a deal considering that the Twins showed a lot of interest with the given bidding amount, while Park mentioned on multiple occasions that playing in the MLB would be a dream come true.

The first baseman had the best year of his career back in South Korea and put up monster numbers including 53 homers and 146 RBIs (all-time league record) all while batting an impressive .343.

If he puts up anything near that in his potential debut season in Minnesota, the move will most likely be deemed as wildly successful.

But chances are there will very likely be a dip. Take into consideration the most recent case of Pittsburgh Pirates’ Korean shortstop Kang Jung-ho who put up a very respectable .287 average with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs over 126 games in his first MLB season.

The previous season when he was still with the Nexen Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization, and a teammate of Park’s, he hit .356 with 40 home runs and 117 RBIs.

Keep in mind that Kang’s 2015 major league stats played a big role in convincing ball clubs that it was worth laying down seven-figures for Park.

Yahoo Sports reported that Park will most likely be the primary Designated Hitter (DH) for the team if the contract negotiations work out. If that is the case, 22-year-old superstar-in-the-making Miguel Sano will go from DH to left field, while Joe Mauer continues to play first.

In the off chance that the two parties do not reach an agreement on a contract, Park will have to wait until next year to try again.